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2020 SESSION

20104148D
HOUSE BILL NO. 701
Offered January 8, 2020
Prefiled January 6, 2020
A BILL to amend and reenact § 22.1-79.7 of the Code of Virginia, relating to school boards; school meal policies; parental notification and opt-out.
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Patron-- Roem
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Referred to Committee on Education
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Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 22.1-79.7 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 22.1-79.7. School meal policies.

Each local school board shall adopt policies that:

1. Prohibit school board employees from requiring a student who cannot pay for a meal at school or who owes a school meal debt to do chores or other work to pay for such meals or wear a wristband or hand stamp; and

2. Require school board employees to direct any communication relating to a school meal debt to the student's parent. Such policy may permit such communication to be made by a letter addressed to the parent to be sent home with the student;

3. Require each elementary and secondary school in the school division to send to the parents of each student by the end of the first week of the school year notice of the consequences of school meal debt and the school board policy and procedure relating to such debt, including any requirement that such student be served an alternative meal or be required to dispose of meals served to him while such debt remains unpaid;

4. Require any elementary or secondary school in the school division to resend to the parents of any student who accrues a school meal debt the notice set forth in subdivision 3 before the consequences of such debt go into effect; and

5. Require the parents of any student who do not want their child to be served a school meal to submit a written request to the student's school.