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The Henrico County Public Schools district served 3,990,370 free meals during the 2020-2021 school year.
The district offered free breakfasts and lunches to all students under the UDSA’s pandemic feeding program, which has been operating since March 2020. Under that program, the HCPS district was reimbursed $2.24 for each breakfast and $3.91 for each lunch received by a student.
Excess meals that were prepared but not distributed were not reimbursed. A HCPS spokesman said that the district doesn't track numbers or tabulate a cost for meals not distributed, but staff is trained to use past production data to forecast and prepare an appropriate amount of food for a given day.
School officials will continue to provide free breakfasts and lunches for those 18 and younger throughout the summer under the USDA Summer Food Service Program. Meals will be provided for students who are in school in person (beginning Monday at some sites and July 12 at others) and for families who pick them up at various school curbside locations, which began Monday.
Summer meals are provided under the USDA Summer Food Service Program, which is the same program used during pandemic feeding programs operating since March 2020.
Gov. Ralph Northam announced last week a new task force charged with strategizing ways to serve school meals that accommodate more dietary restrictions.
Members of the task force include Monica Manns, head of HCPS' Equity and Diversity Department, and Beth Teigen, HCPS’ Chief of Staff, along with 15 other school officials from across the state.
“When our school environments reflect the history, values, cultures, and traditions of the communities they serve our students are better positioned to learn and thrive,” Northam said in a prepared statement. “The Task Force on Culturally Inclusive School Meals and Calendars will identify best practices in promoting knowledge about religious observances within our schools and explore how school nutrition programs can ensure students have access to meals that suit their dietary constraints and honor their cultural practices.”
The team will meet biweekly throughout June and July, then present their recommendations to the Governor’s Children’s Cabinet along with superintendents, school nutrition directors, higher education representatives and school board members in August.
For the fall, HCPS will adopt the latest USDA waiver allowing what’s known as the Seamless Summer Option program to be used during the entire upcoming 2021-22 school year. Free breakfasts and lunches will be available to every student receiving whether they are in classrooms or learning remotely. Curbside pickup will be available to those enrolled in Henrico Virtual Academy, but the district anticipates that most meals will be served in cafeterias, as the vast majority of students are returning to brick-and-mortar schools in the fall.
Each meal served during the school year will be reimbursed by the federal government at the same rate as the summer feeding program.
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Anna Bryson is the Henrico Citizen's education reporter and a Report for America corps member. Make a tax-deductible donation to support her work, and RFA will match it dollar for dollar.
