Teachers call for schools to start online

Demand counties go 14 days with no new cases to open

Tennessee teachers are calling for schools to reopen for only online instruction in August amid the ongoing coronavirus crisis across the state.

Nashville’s teachers union, the Metropolitan Nashville Education Association, is hosting a mock funeral procession, or “die-in,” Monday evening “mourning the loss of effective leadership,” according to the group’s Facebook page.

The group is demanding students and teachers not go back physically into classrooms until each county has gone at least 14 days without new confirmed COVID-19 cases.

“Our state officials have failed us. Local communities have been left to their own devices to decide reopening plans that are inconsistent and unsafe. Tell Gov. [Bill] Lee and State Commissioner of Education Penny Schwinn to protect Tennessee students, educators and families,” said a post on the event’s Facebook page.

Some school districts across the state already have pushed back the first day of school in light of the pandemic. The Wilson County school board met for an emergency session Saturday and voted to move the first day of school from Aug. 3 to Aug. 17.

Hamilton County Schools has announced a plan to go back to school Aug. 12. It calls

for a phased reopening on a sliding scale between at-home education and in-person classes, with hybrid models in between, depending on pandemic severity.

Metro Nashville Public Schools was the first district in the state to announce that all students would start the 2020-21 school year learning at home. Director Adrienne Battle announced earlier this month that the district’s 86,000 students will continue learning virtually until at least Labor Day.

Other districts, including Knox County and Shelby County schools, have also moved start dates to later in the month. Shelby County Schools in Memphis is now considering making the move to allvirtual learning, as well.

Williamson County Schools announced this week that only students in grades pre-K to second will return to campus on Aug. 7 — grades 3-12 will start the year online.

Amanda Kail, president of the Metropolitan Nashville Education Association, said that the protest is not directed toward Metro Schools, but rather state leaders.

“As [the association], we are extremely happy that the district is starting online and this protest is in no way shape or form meant to target Dr. Battle and MNPS,” she said. “While we are really sighing with relief about not having to go back in-person and having a director of schools who is focused on keeping people safe, we are looking around at districts who are not going fully online and we are deeply concerned. We are concerned about the health and safety of our colleagues, students and their families in the rest of the state.”

The call comes as other groups, including Tennessee doctors, have also told state officials not to rush reopening schools.

“We should not rush to reopen our schools without a cautious and comprehensive community plan to reduce the spread of coronavirus,” said Dr. Amy Gordon Bono, a primary care doctor practicing internal medicine in Middle Tennessee.

Bono spoke on behalf of ProtectMyCare, a coalition of doctors who have been outspoken throughout the coronavirus pandemic, during a virtual news conference on July 16.

“More than half of all Tennessee counties have an unacceptable rate of coronavirus transmission. Our state is now experiencing the worst we have experienced under the coronavirus crisis … to reopen schools is insane and irresponsible,” she continued.

Despite these calls, Lee and Schwinn have both emphasized that decisions on how and when to reopen schools is a matter of local control, but Schwinn has also highlighted the consequences of not reopening school.

She has urged districts to prioritize reopening safely.

“We feel like there isn’t any strong state leadership that is really acting to make sure teachers are safe around the state,” Kail said. “It doesn’t make any sense to force people to go back in a really unsafe situation.”

Concerns about schools restarting are not uncommon. A significant majority of Americans support the decision to close schools and universities in the face of the pandemic, according to data from a Democracy Fund + UCLA Nationscape project. The project surveyed people in 11 states in June and July but did not include Tennessee.

The Metropolitan Nashville Education Association also calls for additional technology and access to broadband internet in order for students to access virtual instruction, personal protective equipment for all school staff and students and mental health resources to help students “heal from the traumas of this pandemic and the readjustment to campus life socially and emotionally,” according to the Facebook page.

A survey released by the Tennessee Department of Education last week found that at least 56% of Tennessee teachers consider barriers preventing their students from accessing remote learning as their main concern about teaching through a global pandemic.

Educators acknowledge that not reopening schools is hard on students and families, Kail said.

“Online education for K-12 is a really difficult thing to do. We get it,” she said. “But we’re talking about saving lives.”

Tennessee reported 1,718 new cases and 26 more deaths linked to COVID-19 on Saturday, after a week that saw several record highs in new daily case counts.

The event, “Dead Students Can’t Learn. Dead Teachers Can’t Teach,” is slated for Monday, July 27, at 5 p.m.