Hundreds of Waivers

Chalkbeat is tracking requests from school districts to waive various state mandates for the upcoming school year in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Here’s more:

Wanting flexibility for a school year of uncertainty, more than half of Tennessee districts have asked for one-year waivers to state mandates ranging from duty-free lunch periods for teachers to new physical education requirements for students.

Hundreds of waiver requests have already been submitted by 79 school systems to the Tennessee Department of Education. More are expected in the coming months as schools reopen during the coronavirus pandemic.

The first round of requests will be considered on Friday by the state Board of Education. That vote will offer an early glimpse of how far Tennessee will go to help schools navigate COVID-19 at the expense of statewide policies aimed at improving the quality of public education.

It seems worth noting that of the requests on the agenda Friday, only one includes TNReady testing. The recommendation of State Board of Education staff is to deny that request. Some districts, like Williamson County, have appealed directly to Gov. Bill Lee for relief on the testing front.

Here’s the rest of the Chalkbeat story>

https://tn.chalkbeat.org/2020/7/21/21333088/tennessee-school-systems-seek-hundreds-of-waivers-from-state-mandates-amid-covid

Here’s a breakdown of requests and State Board staff recommendations:

https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/stateboardofeducation/documents/2020-sbe-meetings/july-24%2c-2020-sbe-meeting/7-24-20%20IV%20M%20COVID-19%20Additional%20LEA%20Waivers%20Attachment%20Public.pdf

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