Obama-Named School Shut Down Again — It Gets Worse

Students at Barack Obama Elementary in Richmond, Virginia, are still at home after staff found more mold while setting up classrooms.

Teachers discovered “additional areas of mold growth” Monday, wiping out a planned Tuesday reopening after an earlier delay.

Richmond Public Schools had already acknowledged rodents in several rooms last week and said an exterminator would handle it. That detail has received less attention than the mold.

Parents want to know how both problems went unnoticed until the start of the school year.

“[We’re] really just demanding some accountability and transparency and a real, true plan to get our children back into school in a safe way,” one parent told 8News.

Superintendent Jason Kamras laid out two options at a Monday town hall: keep students home during remediation, or move them temporarily to Clark Springs Elementary.

He rejected an immediate move. “I think it would be unfair to the team at Obama to ask them to move everything, set up their classes, start at Clark Springs and then two weeks later come back to Obama,” he said.

‘Barack Obama Elementary School’ in Richmond, VA is shut down for the start of the school year due to extreme mold growth and unsanitary conditions.

You can’t make this up. pic.twitter.com/fBgBbN2T47

— johnny maga (@johnnymaga) August 25, 2026

The district will clean and test every room. Kamras warned that even then, some rooms might still show elevated levels.

“That is a very real possibility, just given the nature of the building,” he said.

The mold has been tied to an HVAC outage that allowed growth in the basement and on furniture. Later reports found mold on computers and music equipment.

Parents asked about transportation, childcare, and whether Clark Springs itself has been tested.

Kamras said the district would work with the YMCA and Richmond Parks and Recreation on childcare help. He pledged two updates a day and monthly testing once students return.

Until then, families have no firm first-day date at a building now tied to both mold and recently reported rodents.