Response to Governor Lee's Call to Reopen TN Schools
The Metropolitan Nashville Education Association (MNEA) rejects Governor Lee's plan to push Tennessee Public Schools to return in person. Yesterday the governor admitted that his plan was part of a "nationwide experiment" in public health. We refuse to sit by idly and let our state government force our children and educators to be guinea pigs in a potentially dangerous and deadly experiment. We will not let Governor Lee take the right to live away students, school employees, and our families.
Furthermore, we find Governor Lee and State Education Commissioner Schwinn's claims that forcing students and educators back into school buildings as what is "best" for the social and emotional well-being of students disingenuous. If our state leaders really believed schools are the best place to alleviate the effects of poverty and violence, Tennessee would not be 45th in the nation for per-pupil spending. He would not have eliminated funding for the student mental health trust while maintaining funding for his unconstitutional voucher program. There are currently NO public schools in MNPS with a full-time nurse, and we struggle to have enough counselors, social workers, and school psychologists. Yet our state continues to hoard billions of our tax dollars in the rainy day fund while more and more Tennessee families face unemployment, evictions, and lack of health care. Quite simply, if governor truly wants schools to reopen safely, he needs to put his money where his mouth is.
MNEA calls on Governor Lee and Commissioner Schwinn to keep all TN schools online until there is a decreased infection and hospitalization rates in TN for 14 days and an absolute case number that indicates community spread has stopped and transmission rate (R0 rate) is below 1. We also demand that the state release our tax dollars back to local public schools to make sure EVERY district in Tennessee can meet the needs of EVERY student, now and in the future.