RICHMOND, Va -- With over a third of Richmond Public Schools teachers taking personal leave to attend the Virginia Education Association's (VEA) "Fund Our Future" rally, Superintendent Jason Kamras has announced that RPS will be closed next Monday, January 27.

Non-participating teachers would have had unreasonably sized classrooms that would obstruct learning and create safety issues and so as a result, school is closed.

This was a tough call for precisely this reason. I’m hopeful that the RPS family will support one another with child care. In addition, we know many families rely on school meals due to food insecurity. That’s why we’ll be preparing “to-go” bags for students on Friday. https://t.co/eBncIRd2aI — Jason Kamras (@JasonKamras) January 19, 2020

"I recognize doing so will create an unexpected childcare burden for our working families," Kamras said. "On behalf of RPS, I sincerely apologize for this. I also want to acknowledge that some of our families face food insecurity and depend on school meals for their children. In light of this, our nutrition team will be preparing “to-go” bags for students to take home on Friday afternoon."

The school calendar includes extra time to account for inclement weather and unforeseen circumstances and so at this time, no additional days will be added to the school year.

"We are proud that so many of our educators will be turning out to advocate for RPS and all of Virginia’s public schools," Kamras said.