The Richmond School Board unanimously approved a motion during their meeting Monday evening for a minimum 20-minute seated lunch time.

“We have workers and students who experience lunches of fewer than 20 minutes and some as low as 13 or 14 minutes,” said Beth Almore, a Richmond Public Schools teacher and board member of the Richmond Education Association, who noted these times fell below the 20-minute seating time recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“I sincerely hope the school system will take every effort to come into alignment with the guidance of the CDC.”

Noting that work already was underway to extend lunch times before Monday’s meeting, Superintendent Jason Kamras was receptive to the approved motion, which directs him to provide the lunch times and lengths at every school and draft policy to extend them.

Board members acted quickly after various speakers raised the issue in the opening minutes of the meeting.

“It is absolutely outrageous,” said School Board member Jonathan Young, who introduced the motion. “Colleagues, this is just a no-brainer.”

According to RPS Chief Academic Officer Solomon Jefferson, the shortened lunch times were the result of class hours required by the Virginia Department of Education, with schools setting their lunch period lengths based around the expectations for course time from the state.

“Historically, we’ve had about 25 minutes for lunch,” Mr. Jefferson said, “because we do have to have 94 minutes for each block in order to meet the state hours for high school and also for high school credit courses in middle school.”

Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Kamras said previously planned changes to extend lunch times would soon go into effect.

Short lunch times are not the only issues that Richmond students and faculty are currently facing. Education officials, teachers, parents and others also drew attention to disrepair in schools, expressed concern over ongoing data security problems, and missing or non-functional technology for the first day of school, alongside a lack of preparation due to an earlier start to the semester.

Similar issues emerged outside the Richmond schools Monday, with Henrico County Public School students also facing long lines to pass through weapon detectors and nonfunctional air conditioning as they began their semester.

Mr. Kamras’ lunch time policy proposal is expected to be presented to the School Board on Monday, Sept. 4.

“I’m clear on the objective and I’m happy to bring back what I think will meet Mr. Young’s motion,” Mr. Kamras said.