New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio just announced all schools there will be closed until April 20th in response to COVID-19. He says in press conference that they may not reopen this school year.
As more information about Coronavirus (COVID-19) becomes available, school districts around the state are extending their Spring Breaks or otherwise canceling school functions and events. Here’s an example from Sumner County:
Sumner County Schools will extend spring break an additional week, March 23-27. We are taking this proactive step to help keep our school community healthy and safe. We will continue to monitor this rapidly changing situation closely based on information provided by the National Institute of Health, the Center for Disease Control, and the Tennessee Department of Health. We encourage you to visit our website or Facebook page for the most current information.
Meanwhile, the Department of Education has new information/guidance available here.
Starting March 16th, the Department of Education COVID-19 hotline is available for district leaders 629-888-5898 or toll free 833-947-2115. The hotline is available Monday-Friday 6:30 am – 4:30pm CT Tennessee Department of Health has launched a Tennessee Coronavirus Public Information Line in partnership with the Tennessee Poison Center. The hotline number is 877-857-2945 and will be available from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. CT daily.
COVID-19 coronavirus is a respiratory illness caused by a novel (new) virus. Stopping transmission (spread) of the virus through everyday practices is the best way to keep people healthy. State health officials are currently taking steps to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in Tennessee. Schools can play a key role in this effort. Through collaboration and coordination with local health departments, schools can take steps to disseminate information about the disease and its potential transmission within their school community.
However, the Department and Commissioner Schwinn are still insisting the state proceed with the annual TNReady testing.
What is your district doing regarding Coronavirus? Let us know!!
For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport
Here’s a letter Commissioner of Education Penny Schwinn sent to Directors of Schools regarding Coronavirus, testing, and school attendance/school closures. In short, she’s not going to make any decisions or take any leadership role.
Schwinn does not seem ready to ask the legislature to waive the tests or to recommend closing schools or to advocate for any emergency measures. This insistence on continuing to test comes despite federal guidance suggesting that states could very well receive waivers from testing mandates:
Guidance released by the U.S. Department of Education says it will consider waiving requirements for state-wide tests, currently mandated in grades 3-8 and once in high school. State testing occurs throughout the spring, and some school closures were already running into planned testing windows.
So, we could have a Commissioner asking for a waiver. And, we could be taking steps to close schools or waive the 180 day attendance requirement. We’re just … not.
For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport
Metro Nashville Public Schools removed the “interim” tag from Adrienne Battle’s title today. The Board voted to end the current search for a Director of Schools and give the job to Battle, who has held it on an interim basis since Shawn Joseph left the position.
During a specially called meeting on Friday, the Metro Nashville Schools Board decided not to continue its search and appointed Adrienne Battle as superintendent. Battle has led the district since last year.
Board Chair Anna Shepherd said she asked for the motion to appoint Battle to allow for continuity as the city recovers from tornado damage and as Nashville grapples with the novel coronavirus pandemic. Battle’s actions and her calm leadership over the last week have been celebrated.
“While adhering to the search process is vitally important, I understand we must respond rapidly to changing circumstances and provide stability,” Shepherd said.
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Is it time to cancel TNReady testing in light of concerns over COVID-19? The federal government seems to at least allow for states to make this call, according to a story in Chalkbeat.
Guidance released by the U.S. Department of Education says it will consider waiving requirements for state-wide tests, currently mandated in grades 3-8 and once in high school. State testing occurs throughout the spring, and some school closures were already running into planned testing windows.
Not only could this be a relief for Directors of Schools facing a tough call, it could alleviate the strain of what has so far been a failed TNReady testing experiment.
For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport
Despite cancelling a planned rally to drum up support for improved school funding, the Tennessee Education Association is still calling for teachers and public education advocates to take action on or around March 16th. More from TEA President Beth Brown.
Following the announcement yesterday of our decision to cancel the TEA Rally for Our Schools, I want to challenge you to still mark Monday, March 16, as a Day of Action for the funding our schools deserve. Our public schools need a $1.2 billion investment from the state to provide the resources, services and support our students need to succeed.
It’s affordable: Tennessee can do this without raising taxes. It’s right: Strong public schools are the foundation of strong, thriving communities. It’s time: Underfunding our schools has gone on for too long; The students sitting in our classrooms right now, and the generations to come, deserve the very best education.
Monday, March 16, 2020, is a day we have all been looking forward to since the delegates at the TEA RA in 2019 voted unanimously that a large-scale action was needed to increase state funding. While we can no long risk a large in-person gathering, we still have the opportunity for a statewide, large-scale action.
I am asking each local association to identify a way for public education advocates in your community to show their support for increased state investment in public education. This can be anything from wearing red on Monday (including your Rally shirts, if you have them), to posting social media videos stating why your school deserves better funding, to a flood of phone calls to your state legislators. Better yet, you could do all three!
We must remain focused on this goal and not let the loss of the rally result in lost momentum. Elected officials in Nashville need to feel the pressure from folks back home that we are watching, and we expect better for Tennessee’s public schools.
For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport
The Tennessee Education Association has cancelled a planned March 16th rally for school funding because of fears around the coronavirus (COVID-19). Here’s more from an email:
For more than 150 years, TEA leadership and staff have been committed to working in the best interest of Tennessee students and educators. It is for that reason that we have made the decision to cancel the Rally for Our Schools on Monday, March 16. In an abundance of caution for the health of educators, students and TEA staff, we cannot responsibly ask hundreds of public education advocates to gather together in Nashville as the coronavirus continues to spread across the state.
While the rally has been cancelled, the fight continues. It is more important than ever that we do not lose our momentum or focus on accomplishing our goal to increase state funding to the Southeast average. We are in a critical moment for the future of public education funding in our state. Our students and schools need a dramatic increase in state investment in public education. Please watch for communication from TEA in the coming days via email, print publications and social media for details on the next step in this fight and how you can be involved.
TEA will also be sharing information with members on how we can all support our fellow educators and students affected by the tornados in Middle Tennessee.
Sincerely,
Beth Brown, TEA President
Carolyn Crowder, TEA Executive Director
For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport
Betty Bean has the story of an unlikely two-term winner on the Knox County School Board, Jennifer Owen.
Owen won re-election on Tuesday night by a large margin despite being outspent, reports Bean:
Sure, she had devoted volunteers and steady support from educators, but her opponent, John Meade, co-president of the Central High School Foundation, was rocking big ticket contributions from the top tier of the local GOP donor base and dispatching bales of direct mail to district mailboxes while Owen only sent out two mailers, one of which she paid for with $2,000 borrowed from her husband, Robert. Her only other large contribution was $2,500 from the K-PACE, the Knox County Education Association political action committee.
As Bean continues, she notes that Owen is known for speaking truth to power. She takes principled stands, even if they are sometimes unpopular. She’s not at all afraid to make the establishment uncomfortable. She asks tough questions. She’s unrelenting in her advocacy for public education.
Her story is not unlike that of Nashville’s Amy Frogge, now a two-term school board member. Frogge was outspent by large margins in both of her campaigns, and both times she won big. She challenges city leaders and state policymakers and she’s relentless.
Perhaps there’s a lesson in this for politicians everywhere: Stay true to your principles, fight hard, and do what’s right – even in the face of well-funded, polished interests who claim to be “for the kids.”
Whatever the case, Owen joins Frogge as someone who looks at the powerful interests in her way and nevertheless, persists.
For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport
State Senator Dolores Gresham will not be seeking re-election this year, the AP reports:
Tennessee Republican state Sen. Dolores Gresham says she will not be seeking reelection this year.
The Somerville lawmaker made the announcement in an email this week to constituents in her 26th District.
Gresham served six years in the state House before she was elected to three four-year terms in the Senate. She became Education Committee chairwoman as a freshman senator.
Gresham’s leadership was a critical element in securing passage of Tennessee’s school voucher program. In fact, in litigation filed by the school systems in Nashville and Memphis, reference is made to Gresham’s captaining of the voucher bill from the Senate floor.
Amendment No. 1 did not apply to Sen. Gresham’s home county of Fayette County or to any of the other six counties in Sen. Gresham’s district, despite Fayette County having two out of seven schools (28.6%) on the 2017 bottom 10% list and one out of seven schools (14.3%) on the 2018 list of priority schools.
For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport
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Yesterday’s election provided good news for teachers in Wilson County, as voters there approved a sales tax increase with a portion of the proceeds from increased revenue dedicated to increasing teacher pay. The Lebanon Democrat has more:
The sales tax in Wilson County will be going to 9.75 percent from 9.25 percent after voters overwhelmingly gave their OK Tuesday.
The referendum passed 58% to 42%, according to complete yet unofficial results posted by Wilson County Elections Administrator Phillip Warren.
The vote came as the result of a decision by the Wilson County Commission to put the issue of where to find new revenue to fund teacher pay to voters.
The move comes as Wilson County is feeling the impact of the national teacher shortage, driven in part by low pay for educators. Additionally, new reports indicate teacher pay in Tennessee has actually fallen over the last decade when adjusted for inflation. Wilson County also suffers from a pay scale tied to teacher value-added scores.
For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport
