The Mathews County Board of Supervisors took about 30 minutes Tuesday evening to approve the school board’s request to appropriate an additional $168,844 to the division’s cafeteria fund to cover operating expenses for April and May and over the summer. The vote was 4-1, with supervisor Paul Hudgins dissenting.

School Superintendent Nancy Welch explained to the board that the money will cover additional costs related to the COVID-19 emergency. She said she expects reimbursement for the additional expenditure through the School Nutrition Program and the Virginia Department of Emergency Management, with that money going directly to the county.

Welch provided the board with a fact sheet in which she had excerpts from the Virginia Department of Education’s guidance on providing meals for children who aren’t currently in school because of the pandemic. VDEM’s statement strongly encourages local school districts to provide meals not only for the remainder of the school year, but also ...