RICHMOND, Va. — Free school breakfast programs are helping drive down chronic absenteeism rates across Virginia, with 32,000 more students now eating breakfast at school since 2023.
Cynthia Atkins has worked in the cafeteria at Holton Elementary on the city’s Northside for 11 years and knows her students well.
“I can tell you know what they need and that they might be hungry, because I don’t know when a child has had their last meal. I really don’t,” Atkins said…