COVID-19 is once again closing schools in Tennessee. This time, districts are not able to shift entirely to remote learning – though Commissioner of Education Penny Schwinn offered some limited guidance regarding shifting to remote learning on a school-by-school basis.
Fox 17 in Nashville has the story of Wilson County Schools closing all of next week and re-opening after Labor Day:
The Wilson County School District announced on Friday schools will be closed all of next week due to “the continued surge in recent positive COVID-19 cases and quarantines,” the district stated on Twitter.
The county plans to return on September 7. While closed, buildings and buses will be cleaned. The county noted there will not be remote learning and “therefore there will be no teaching and learning expectations during this time.”
The move comes just after Williamson County Schools asked the state to allow remote learning and also instituted a mask mandate across all district schools. Previously, the mandate only applied in elementary schools.
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In the wake of COVID-19 wreaking havoc with school schedules, cancelling football games, and closing down at least one Williamson County School (Fairview Middle), the Williamson County School Board has called a special meeting for tonight to ask Gov. Bill Lee (a Williamson County resident) to include school operations in his emergency order so that remote instruction can be an option for virus mitigation.
Here’s a tweet from Williamson Strong with the resolution:
Tonight’s special called COVID mitigation and remote learning resolution #wcsb meeting will be live tweeted so follow along starting at 6pm! The livestream will (hopefully this time) be up at https://t.co/cM6FHtXzF7@WCSedupic.twitter.com/DwyDHHiPsq
Here are some video messages from advocates of mitigation strategies that include a mask mandate:
Dr. Meredith Duke, a Vanderbilt Surgeon and mother of children in Williamson County Schools pleaded, “I attended the last board meeting almost two weeks ago and I was appalled at the behavior of the crowd and the lack of decorum… One of the mask mandate supporters was an infectious disease expert from Vanderbilt. I repeat, you had an infectious disease expert here, encouraging a mask mandate. She pleaded for our children’s safety and she adamantly supported a universal mask mandate.
“We were not heard and that has brought us to today. COVID is spreading in a completely uncontrolled fashion. Our children are sick, our teachers are sick, and our families are sick. In two weeks, both of my sons have had COVID exposures. I’m already canceling necessary surgeries because we don’t have beds to care for our patients. We don’t have beds, where our hospitals are literally at a breaking point. We, our community, needs to do something to make this stop. It’s imperative that you pass and enforce a universal mask mandate for all of our schools. We need to improve contact tracing quarantine protocols. We don’t have an adequate vaccine update. We are not mitigating anything. Your job is to provide a safe environment for children to learn. They are not safe. Please do your job. Stand up to the anti mask bullies and listen to the experts.”
Todd Barton, a arent of two children in Williamson County Schools called on the school board to follow CDC and American Academy of Pediatric guidelines, “The CDC, along with the American Academy of Pediatrics, thousands of local doctors and pediatricians, and our area hospitals, including Williamson County Medical Center have been very clear. And what they are recommending for schools during this pandemic masks, contact tracing, distancing limits to gatherings and quarantines. And all we’ve seen so far is a very limited mask requirement in elementary schools. And what we’re also seeing is the very predictable result of that. At my daughter’s school, nearly half the students are out, along with about a third of teachers and staff as well as a number of bus drivers. Students are in classrooms with substitutes, or sometimes staff who have no educational training. And when school closes, because, inexplicably, we’re prevented from using remote learning, they receive no instruction whatsoever at home. I don’t understand this. I know that there are some very loud voices involved. I know that there’s politics involved. But I’m begging you to rise above that, and to see to the health and safety of the students, teachers and staff staff by following the recommendations given to you by the medical professionals, as well as instituting a remote learning platform that was proven very successful last year to ensure continuity of learning.”
Kristie Harris, a Registered Nurse, small business owner, and mom of children who contracted COVID-19 from their Williamson County school shared that she has been so careful to not expose herself or her four children to COVID in the past year and a half. As a single mother who has asthma, she waited until she was vaccinated to put her children back in in-person school, because more than anything, she didn’t want to leave them as orphans. She shared that, “the current opt out system is what put my kids at risk. We were safe until we returned to school, and just 11 days to the year they are COVID positive. What’s even crazier is according to the Williamson County’s current exposure and quarantine rules, I could send my 13 year old to school right now, I could send him to school, not only could I send him, but I could send him unmasked to school because he doesn’t have any symptoms. And even though his brothers are both sick and COVID positive, there’s no rule against sending your kids to school with other kids at home who are positive. It’s absolutely insane. Of course, as a responsible parent and member of our community, I would never do that. But it does beg the question, how many are? The current exposure and quarantine policy is absolutely absurd. It’s dangerous, and it’s what’s continuing this path that we are on.” She ended saying, “I’m urging you to protect our kids.”
A group of Tennessee physicians this week responded to Gov. Bill Lee urging local school districts to drop mask mandates.
Here’s more from a press release:
“Mask requirements for our classrooms keep COVID out so our kids can stay in school, parents at work and most importantly, protect vulnerable children who do not have the option to get vaccinated yet,” said Dr. Amy Gordon Bono, an internal medicine/primary care physician in Nashville, who also holds a Masters in Public Health. “And we know it works: counties without mask requirements have seen more COVID spread, leading to more kids getting sick, parents and kids having to quarantine, making it harder on local businesses and families.”
Dr. Sara Cross,an Associate Professor of Medicine and Infectious Diseases at the UT College of Medicine in Memphis, who also served on the Governor’s Coronavirus Task Force, is concerned.
“The Governor’s announcement urging school districts to drop their mask requirements is premature, reckless, and frankly confusing to me as an infectious disease physician and mother. This announcement completely contradicts the Centers for Disease Control’s most recent updated recommendations from just 3 days ago. All children should feel safe at school. It is the community’s and government’s responsibility to ensure this safe environment. Children with special healthcare needs are at increased risk of infection from SARS-Cov-2. Rarely, a healthy child can develop serious infection or suffer grave consequences from COVID-19. The CDC recommends continued use of masks and social distancing in schools to keep our young unvaccinated population safe and healthy. I hope that Governor Lee rethinks his hasty announcement.”
Dr. Diana Sepehri-Harvey, a family medicine physician in Franklin who also holds a Masters in Public Health, responded,
“Every time I think Governor Lee has shown all that he can for me to not trust him as a leader, he breaks his own record! Our children under the age of 12, who do not have a choice to be vaccinated at this time, require all of us to remain vigilant to keep them safe. Simply put, this means we get vaccinated and mask up for them, and kids continue to mask until they are eligible for vaccines. As a physician on the frontlines, and as a mother of young kids, I am appalled by Governor Lee’s message today!”
“Masks and vaccines work together to help suppress COVID infections in our community,” continued Dr. Bono. “Doing everything we can to keep the school environment safe from COVID infection helps make that environment safer, more supportive, and more stable for our children, teachers, and staff. Masks for unvaccinated individuals, including children, are essential.”
Dr. Cross concluded:
“We should come together, across the differences used to divide us and reject the politicization of science and health that led to so many avoidable school and business closures and prolonged this crisis in Tennessee in the first place. Don’t we have a responsibility to protect vulnerable children who don’t have the vaccine option yet? That’s what mask requirements are for.”
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Sen. Brian Kelsey of Shelby County took some time today to attack the Shelby County Schools and get in a jab at the teachers union. He never misses a chance to attack public schools or the educators in them.
Here’s the video:
.@BrianKelsey says it's "PURELY OUT OF SPITE" that @SCSK12Unified is keeping their schools closed. @SenAkbari calls that a "truly unfair characterization," pointing out that Shelby is a massive district and that they're "taking care of our most precious cargo – children." pic.twitter.com/u7LscUMp9t
This is the same guy who sent out a Christmas card crowing about his legal work to voucherize public schools.
This is also the same Brian Kelsey who led efforts to eliminate the Hall Income Tax and $200 million a year in revenue for the state. Then, the issue was what to do with repeated years of surplus revenue. Kelsey’s answer was NOT to invest it in schools, but instead to create a tax giveaway for investors.
Brian Kelsey does not and has not supported our state’s public schools. Now, he’s using his position as chair of the Senate Education Committee to attack public school teachers. In other Kelsey news, he’s the lead sponsor of legislation that would undermine the ability of working Tennesseans to join a union.
Even as state lawmakers push for an accelerated return to in-person learning, the State of Tennessee is announcing that teachers will not be able to receive COVID-19 vaccines as quickly as planned.
Tennessee teachers, school staff, and child care workers must wait for COVID-19 vaccinations until after people age 70 and older receive their shots, state officials said Friday.
The new directive pauses the inoculations of educators, which already had begun in many rural counties. As of Thursday evening, more than half of counties in the state had run out of vaccine doses.
Based on current projections, it seems teachers will begin to be vaccinated again at the end of February, with a goal of saturation by sometime in March.
The announcement of the pause comes as the state reports an ever-increasing number of COVID-19 cases.
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The Tennessee Education Association (TEA) today released the results of a statewide survey of teachers regarding the experience of teaching during the pandemic. According to the report, 74% of teachers rated the state’s handling of the issues surrounding schools and COVID-19 as “poor.”
The findings should come as no surprise as Governor Bill Lee continues to pursue a privatization agenda while failing to actually do much of anything about the spiking COVID cases.
Here’s the full press release from the TEA:
As students and educators begin the Spring semester, a statewide Tennessee Education Association survey of educators reveals just how difficult and time-consuming the fall semester was on educators across the state. Public school educators are struggling under tough teaching conditions of the pandemic, working longer hours with little training or support—often with inadequately supplied classrooms—and enduring the daily threat and reality of infection.
“Tennessee public school educators have been staying strong for months, taking the challenges of teaching in a pandemic head-on,” said TEA President Beth Brown. “Our educators need more support and resources as they begin what will certainly be another difficult semester. As the survey showed, most public school staff are working longer hours with daily disruptions and changing tasks, but with little guidance, support or tangible encouragement from the state. The state must do more to assist with the burdens of teaching in a pandemic.”
In December, more than 7,000 teachers, education support professionals, administrators and certified personnel participated in the confidential TEA survey on education working conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic. An overwhelming majority of those polled said their work is more or much more difficult than in past years.
Key findings of the survey include:
Eighty-four percent of teachers, 78% of administrators and 67% of certified professionals said they are working more hours than in the past.
The average Tennessee educator worked an additional 235 hours during the fall semester to overcome pandemic disruptions and maintain quality instruction.
The concern of infection and the disruptions in teaching caused by the pandemic are taking a psychological toll on educators, with 84% reporting a negative emotional impact and half reporting being strongly impacted.
An overwhelming 91% of educators teaching virtually said they have been given new assignments and responsibilities that differ from their training and professional practices.
Additionally, a growing number of educators are being diagnosed with COVID-19. The rate of reported infections in the survey match TEA tracking data which shows educators having significantly higher infection rates than the general population and in the communities they serve. TEA estimates more than 16,000 public school educators have contracted the virus since July.
“Educators are front-line personnel in this pandemic. From the stress of taking care of students and overcoming the disruptions the virus causes, to dealing with the anxiety of being infected and bringing it home to family and loved ones, these past months have been exhausting mentally, physically, and emotionally,” Brown said.
While educators are critical of school districts’ response to the pandemic, the harshest criticism is leveled at the state government’s response, with 74% of respondents rating the state response poor.
“Our school districts have been left with insufficient guidance from the state, from how to slow infections or when to close schools to providing resources that assist with overcoming disruptions. The survey shows the high level of frustration with state leadership,” Brown said. “We’re 10 months into the pandemic, and one-third of teachers are still less than adequately supplied with personal protective equipment and cleaning materials. Most educators have once again dipped into their own pockets to purchase all the necessary supplies for their classrooms, and there is no excuse for that.”
“The survey confirms that we’ve worked more hours under the most difficult circumstances imaginable, going above and beyond for our students. The administration and legislature must acknowledge the sacrifices we’ve been making and take concrete steps to give us the support and recognition we have earned,” Brown said.
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The head of the Knox County Education Association (KCEA) is calling on that district to begin school this semester in a hybrid or virtual model as COVID-19 cases spike in Knox County and across the state.
The Knox County Education Association called for the county’s schools to start the semester in the “red zone” with no in-person learning, or with an alternating hybrid schedule where students alternate in-person days, the group’s president said Monday.
“We can’t sacrifice lives over politics and we need to do what’s right and what’s best for everyone,” Tanya Coats told 10News. “Educating kids is a priority for us, but we just need to do it remotely from home.”
The push in Knox County to move to remote learning comes at time when new cases of COVID-19 in Tennessee and in Knox County are increasing.
As WBIR notes, since December 11th:
. . . the county’s health department has reported in excess of 10 thousand more positive tests and more than 100 new deaths tied to the virus. The number of active cases has increased by 62 percent.
In fact, Tennessee achieved “best in the world” status for COVID transmission rate (the highest rate) in December and the entire state is currently identified as a COVID-19 “hot spot” according to Tennessean reporter Bret Kelman:
Over the past seven days, every one of Tennessee's 95 counties reported COVID-19 test positivity rate above 10%, which is the White House threshold for a "hot spot." In short, the "hot spot" is every single mile of Tennessee.
Some districts have already announced they will open virtually this semester for at least a few days up to a few weeks. With numbers surging and a post-Holiday spike expected, it’s not clear when conditions will be safe for in-person learning.
Meanwhile, Gov. Bill Lee has called a “not so special” session of the legislature to address the issue. That meeting will begin on January 19th.
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As the new year starts, schools will be back in session. The question for many districts, though, is will they return to in-person learning or will they come back in a virtual or hybrid model? Wilson County Schools answered that with a message to families noting the district will be operating virtually until January 15th.
Metro Nashville has already announced they’ll be virtual until at least January 18th. Likewise, Sumner County will be virtual when that district returns from January 6th-8th.
What’s your district doing?
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Apparently, Gov. Bill Lee doesn’t really believe the COVID-19 pandemic is all that serious. Despite a prime time address Sunday in which he “strongly urged” and made some suggestions, there’s been very little real action. What action there has been reflects a Governor who is not actually all that concerned about the safety and well-being of those in schools.
But a state education department spokesperson tells WPLN News that the newest executive order doesn’t apply to schools.
The governor says that if people must work in-person, they should mask up. “We want you to work safely, and that’s what we’ve been doing with teachers throughout this pandemic,” he said.
However, the state has not required teachers to wear masks. That decision is left up to individual school districts, some of which have declined to require face coverings for students and staff.
So, despite what Lee describes as a crisis in our state, schools will be open for in-person learning and there will be no mask mandate issued by the Governor for schools.
Lee’s failure to lead is evident in our status as among the worst places in the world for the spread of COVID, and now he’s making a series of suggestions but also not applying any new policy to schools.
Bill Lee claims to be taking the virus seriously. His actions suggest he’s just kidding.
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Nashville education blogger TC Weber offers some insightful commentary on Gov. Bill Lee’s speech on the state’s ongoing COVID-19 crisis.
Here are some highlights:
What you missed remains unclear because the Governor managed to address a crisis without offering any clear direction. There were a lot of suggestions, and a few warnings, but no mandates. In essence, a request was entered, that if Tennesseans planned on any social gathering, perhaps they’d be kind enough to limit them to 10 people unless they were funerals, weddings, church services, or … not social events.
Nearly a third of Executive Order 70 is devoted to sporting events, with nary a mention about schools, bars, restaurants, or constructions sites – all of whom would welcome, and arguably require clearer guidance. Mind you, I’m not favoring one set of mandates over another, but if you are going to promise something of substance, offer something of substance. Hell, he quoted Churchill, that alone raises the bar. Per usual with Lee and his team, we are left to debate the quality of action as opposed to the actual policy. Something that has come to define the Lee administration.
The thing that I’m more fascinated with is, what happens behind the scenes. I’m assuming that there were several meetings held prior, to devise the strategy and wording of Lee’s speech. Wasn’t anybody struck by the inadequacies of this response? Or did everybody sign-on?
Did Blake Harris his Chief of Staff, read the speech and say, “Perfect. Way to thread the needle on Government and free will. People will love this.”
Did his Commissioner of Education Penny Schwinn take a look at it and say, “Nicely done. Don’t offer any guidance on schools, nobody’s interested in that. We already put those rumors about closing schools to bed. This here speech is a shining example of leadership.”
It has long been my belief that the quality of leadership is revealed by the people a leader surrounds themselves with. Between several high profile resignations and current moves by Governor Lee, I don’t think anybody can put forth the argument that he’s surrounding himself with a high-quality team focused on the citizens of Tennessee. My father used to have a plaque on the wall that read, “You can’t fly with the eagles if you surround yourself with turkeys.” Governor Lee seems to fancy himself as some kind of turkey farmer.
