The Richmond School Board voted 8-1 Monday night to approve a plan for $54 million in federal money to handle a variety of costs stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The money, coming from the federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief fund, will be used over the next two school years, 2021-22 and 2022-23, and to prepare for students returning to buildings this fall for in-person learning.

This money will be used, in part, to install bipolar ionization and make repairs to all HVAC systems to upgrade air quality throughout the school division. The work includes upgrading heating and cooling systems in many of the older school buildings, while completing installation of touchless soap dispensers and sanitizing stations.

The funding also includes $400,000 to increase custodial staff from 10 to 17 people, with the addition of one assistant, and $14 million over the two budget years to assist with year-round learning, although further discussion on year-round school was tabled for a future board meeting.

Board member Kenya Gibson, 3rd District, cast the only dissenting vote, noting she believes the plan may have been rushed.

Superintendent Jason Kamras thanked the board for approving the spending plan and said, “I am very excited to get this over to the state and then receive those funds so we can begin this work in earnest.”

The next step is for the board to submit the plan to the State Board of Education for approval and for the state to release the $54 million to Richmond Public Schools.

“I voted against the plan because I take my responsibility as a fiscal agent of this school district very seriously,” Ms. Gibson said. “I’ve been fighting for more custodians and counselors for years now. But it’s not right to hire people when we don’t know that the money will be there to keep them employed.”

Mr. Kamras said RPS is free to make any changes to how that money will be used moving forward.

“Throughout the life of the grant, we can always submit amendments if we find out we were going to spend a million dollars on A, but now we want to spend a million dollars on B,” Mr. Kamras told the board.

The board tabled a discussion on year-round school for parents, students, teachers and staff expressed strong opposition to what they called a sudden, drastic change.