BATTLE, RAY AND OTHER LEADERS RISK THEIR CAREERS FOR CHILDREN’S HEALTH
If history is an indicator of preemptive local control, Tennessee lawmakers will make good on their threats to punish school districts that defy mask orders.
Metro Nashville Public Schools Director Adrienne Battle put herself in the crosshairs of Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and state lawmakers.
And she is not backing down.
Battle and other school superintendents across the Volunteer State and in other states including Florida and Texas are being the Davids to their governors’ Goliaths by defying executive orders to loosen or eliminate mask mandates in public schools.
They are responding to a recent and deadly surge in COVID-19 because of the delta variant. The Tennessee
Department of Health reports a daily case average of 549 new infections in children 10 and younger during the last week.
Children are not eligible for the vaccine until they are 12, making them more vulnerable to getting sick and posing an infection risk to adults, especially those who are immunocompromised or elderly.
By standing up to authority, school system leaders are taking a stand and putting their careers on the line. Frankly, it is courageous.
“I don’t want to have to fight about masks,” said Battle on Wednesday.
“I want to be focused on the education of our kids,” she added.
Nashville District Attorney General Glenn Funk said he “will not prosecute school officials or teachers for keeping children safe.”
Lawmakers seek to quash a rebellion
Just a few of the school districts in Tennessee’s 95 counties have imposed a mask mandate, but they include the biggest ones such as MNPS and Shelby County Schools.
Williamson County Schools board of education’s decision on Aug. 10 to impose a temporary mask mandate for elementary school children, teachers and staff drew international headlines because of the vitriol anti-maskers showed to school board members and health care officials among others.
On Monday, Lee signed an executive order to allow parents to opt their children out of mask mandates and avoid a call by lawmakers at the state House level for a special session to enact new legislation.
However, the defiance of Battle, Memphis’ Joris Ray and others appears to be spurring new calls for a legislative quashing of this rebellion.
“The Governor and the General Assembly cannot and will not allow lawful orders to be defied,” said Lt. Gov. Randy Mcnally, R-oak Ridge in a statement Tuesday.
If history is any indication with state lawmakers preempting local control, they will make good on their threats and they will be harsh.
And again, politics will win.
Politics are already beating the state’s efforts to stem the surge of COVID-19 ... which is why some school boards imposed mask mandates in the first place.
Local leaders say they are prevented from protecting communities
In Florida, Gov. Ron Desantis threatened school districts that defied his order to allow parents to opt their children out of wearing a mask.
Some superintendents did not blink. On Tuesday, the state Board of Education voted unanimously to seek to investigate and enforce rules against Alachua County School Board and Superintendent Carlee Simon.
In an Aug. 9 guest essay in The Washington Post, Simon wrote: “... unfortunately, Gov. Ron Desantis (R) refuses to take the steps necessary to address the surge. Even worse, he’s preventing local leaders from doing what they can to protect their own communities.”
This sounds too familiar.
What will it take to open our leaders’ eyes?
Lee’s counterpart in Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott, tested positive for COVID on Tuesday. Abbott tweeted a message saying he experienced “no symptoms such as fever or aches and pains.” He is fortunate and also vaccinated.
School districts in Texas have sued Abbott over his executive order restricting them from issuing mask mandates. On Sunday, the Texas Supreme Court temporarily blocked school mask mandates — siding with Abbott, for now.
Only 40.5% of Tennesseans are fully vaccinated as of Wednesday.
Now that the federal government is recommending a booster for people who received the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, it’s clear passive efforts to fight the virus are no longer acceptable.
As I wrote recently, Tennessee leaders need to increase the urgency of their response. They need to promote vaccines and they need to support local officials and allow them to take meaningful action to reduce COVID infections, hospitalizations and deaths.
Right now, they are on a path to punish superintendents, school boards and, ultimately, students.
They may succeed in putting down the rebellion, but what does that do to protect Tennessee citizens?
David Plazas is the director of opinion and engagement for the USA TODAY Network Tennessee. He is an editorial board member of The Tennessean. He hosts the Tennessee Voices videocast. Call him at (615) 259-8063, email him at dplazas@tennessean.com or tweet to him at @davidplazas.