<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=2SjFas_1GoZebUE00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2SjFas_1GoZebUE00" width="1174" height="660" >RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - Richmond schools are working to serve healthier, made-from-scratch meals but the division is also facing a staffing shortage in its cafeterias.Teachers and central office staff are now stepping up to fill in during lunch.“It’s a problem because it can disrupt the operations that we have every day. We want to keep everything on time for instructional purposes,” Director of School Nutrition Services Shannon Ebron said.Ebron says RPS is down about 30 employees, but it’s hitting some spots harder than others. The schools mainly impacted are secondary ones and also some in southside.Teachers and central office staff are now stepping up to fill in during lunch.Roslyn Anderson is the cafeteria manager at Lucille Brown Middle School, where she only has about half of her typical team.“I’m supposed to have six staff members,” Anderson said. “Right now, I have two new staff members and my returning staff member.”Being down people means Anderson has to step in to do more jobs, while other school staff try to help, too. It has become a struggle, as she works to provide a healthy, exciting menu to her hundreds of students.“It is a very labor intense job. You have to be able to do more than one job at a time,” Anderson said. “So, most of the times with me, I have burgers cooking, I have vegetables cooking, or Julie is doing parfaits and she’s doing vegetables or she’s dipping fruit. So, it is a lot of work, but we get it done and we accomplish it and it helps me to see the kids smiling.”The smiles she gets from her students is why she’s been doing it for decades now. Anderson has been at Lucille Brown for five years, with RPS for 11, and worked in Newport News schools before then.“You come in in the morning, it’s ‘good morning, good morning, good morning.’ They look for that because as soon as I stop doing that, ‘Miss A, you okay? Grandma, what’s wrong?’ So, they get used to it. I love it. I just don’t know how else to say it. I love it,” Anderson said.Anderson is asking more people to join her team along with others in Richmond schools.“A lot of kids don’t have this at home or this is the only meal that they get is breakfast and lunch,” she said.Anderson greets each kid with a smile, knows what they like and what they’ll pick over, all while being a listening ear when they need it. She cares for her students and wants to be able to provide them quality meals.“When we don’t have enough people, things fall behind as well. And we just want our kids to be fueled for their school day every day. So when we don’t have people here, we get the job done, but it can be a lot for our team members every day. So some people might be struggling with burnout,” Ebron said.RPS is actively seeking more cafeteria staff members. You can apply here.“This is just a way to give back to your community. Our students need a reliable person to come in every day and serve them a breakfast and a lunch,” Ebron said. “You’re contributing to the nutrition security of our students.</div></body>

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RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - Richmond schools are working to serve healthier, made-from-scratch meals but the division is also facing a staffing shortage in its cafeterias. Teachers and central office staff are now stepping up to fill in during lunch. “It’s a problem because it can disrupt the operations that we...

Richmond Public Schools facing cafeteria staff shortage

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RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - Richmond schools are working to serve healthier, made-from-scratch meals but the division is also facing a staffing shortage in its 

Richmond Public Schools facing cafeteria staff shortage

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