Metro Schools Director to give COVID-19 update at board meeting

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    NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) — Metro Schools will be in a virtual learning model until at least Labor Day, but today Director of Schools Dr. Adrienne Battle is expected to announce what’s to come next.

“I don’t foresee her announcement that we’re going back, period,” said Amanda Kail, President of the Metro Nashville Education Association.

Getting thousands of students online can be challenging, but Kail said it’s had some successes for teachers.

“They’re finding ways to make their instruction come alive online so overwhelmingly, I would say it’s how hard teachers have worked to make this work,” said Kail.

While online teaching comes with technology problems, Kail pointed to an infrastructure issue.

“Why do we not have internet as a public utility? If we did, this would be a lot easier than making a school system provide internet for thousands and thousands of families,” said Kail.

The district isn’t revealing much ahead of the director’s COVID-19 status update at Tuesday’s school board meeting.

All they said is Battle will announce and discuss plans for Metro Schools following Labor Day. That update could include staying in virtual learning mode for even longer.

“I think it absolutely has to happen,” Kail said. “We have to prioritize health and safety over everything else.”

Kail believes Battle will talk about where the district is now, what’s needed to move forward, and when that happens, how it will all work.

“Until the science and the metrics tells us that it’s safe to go back, I don’t think we have a choice,” said Kail.

The school board meeting will be held virtually at 5 p.m.. News4 will be streaming and providing live coverage of the meeting.

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