Teachers express concerns about Governor’s reopening plan for schools

Click here for updates on this story

    NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) — Teachers are starting to learn about the state’s guidelines for the upcoming school year.

“I was concerned as a high school teacher, as an educator with an autoimmune disease, I was quite alarmed that there seemed to be very little regard for the risk of educators,” said Beth Brown, President of the Tennessee Education Association.

Gov. Bill Lee released his plan for safely reopening schools on Tuesday.

“We have to acknowledge that there are a lot of options, but there’s not really a great option. We have to go with the safest option,” Brown said.

The state’s plan makes several recommendations to school districts including when to test and quarantine.

“A reasonable expectation is there will be positive cases in schools. That is something that is going to happen,” said Dr. Penny Schwinn, Commissioner for the Tennessee Department of Education.

The protocol includes a 10-day sick window. Anyone testing positive for the virus must isolate at home for 10 days and they have to be feeling better for at least 24 hours.

See More

Anyone within six feet of someone who has COVID-19 for 10 minutes or more must quarantine at home for 14 days.

The state said it will also give districts a decision-tree. It will have recommendations on how to keep buildings open safely when a case pops up in a school.

“As far as what are the definitive benchmarks, what kind of guidance they’re giving to local districts, we did not hear anything about that,” Brown said.

Safety equipment will be given to teachers including face masks, thermometers, and face shields. They’ll also get a classroom disinfecting kit to use for the year.

“Can we guarantee that a teacher may not test positive? We can’t guarantee that,” Lee said.

The TEA said there were several critical pieces missing from Gov. Lee’s plan. Some of those include funding for school nurses at every school, since they say half of all Tennessee schools don’t have a full-time nurse on campus.

They also said emergency funds need to be made available for medical staff in every school building, and that testing needs to be prevalent and quick enough to alert schools of an outbreak spreading.

They also would like to see conclusive benchmarks from the Tennessee Department of Health that show the virus sufficiently contained before allowing kids back to in-person learning.

Brown also said there was a lot about the governor’s plan they did support including a year’s worth of disinfecting products in classrooms, teachers not having to pay for protective equipment and that the ultimate decisions are being left up to local school districts.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.