Henrico School Board approves cost increase for school breakfasts, lunches; Henrico teachers now will be paid for certain extracurriculars, lost planning time

May 16, 2025

You may have missed your weekly dose of Henrico education news last week, but don’t worry I’m back! I was across the Atlantic visiting Spain but am now back home in Henrico (and the 80 degree heat 🥵)

The Henrico School Board voted to slightly increase the prices of school lunches and breakfasts, and also approved policy changes to pay teachers for lost planning time and for voluntary extracurricular work. In the fall of 2026, Henrico Schools will have a staggered start, with different first days of school for certain grades and groups of students.

Slight hike in school meal prices

The Henrico School Board voted unanimously May 8 to authorize slight price increases for student and adult meals, with officials saying the change was necessary to address rising costs.

Full-price student breakfasts will increase from $1.50 to $1.75 beginning in the fall, while full-price student lunches will increase by 10 cents to $3. The cost for adult breakfasts will increase by 10 cents, to $2.85, and the cost for adult lunches will jump by 20 cents to $4.85.

Henrico teachers will be paid for certain extracurricular work they perform voluntarily outside of their regular school day requirements – such as monitoring school weapons scanners, tutoring students and selling tickets to school events after hours – following the unanimous adoption May 8 by the Henrico School Board of a series of updates to employee personnel policies.

As part of the updates, middle and high school teachers also will be compensated on occasions when they lose their daily planning periods because they are needed to cover study halls or other classes or to assist with duties “essential to student health and safety” during those periods.

The 2026-27 school year in Henrico will begin with a staggered start for the first time in the school system’s history, allowing sixth and ninth graders to better acclimate themselves to new buildings without any other students in attendance, while also helping ease the transition for pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students.

The Henrico School Board unanimously adopted the calendar during its May 8 meeting.

Approximately 4,000 seniors from Henrico County Public Schools’ nine comprehensive high schools will celebrate the culmination of their K-12 journeys during graduation ceremonies at the Henrico Sports and Events Center this month, which also will host completion ceremonies for the school division’s Career and Technical Education students for the first time.

Three ceremonies will be held daily from May 28 to May 30 for graduating seniors at the arena in Glen Allen.

Henrico County Public Schools presented the Teacher of the Year award on Tuesday evening. Christine Suders, an English teacher at Hermitage High School, was this year's recipient.

"It's a really special moment, because so much of what teachers do is unseen," Suders said. "It's behind the scenes, and so it just feels like affirmation that I'm where I'm supposed to be, when I'm supposed to be doing the right thing, and I'm just really honored for that opportunity."