MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A rare special session that has temporarily halted regular legislative business is underway in Nashville. It involves addressing education in Tennessee during the pandemic. And on the surface, it is a good move.
Governor Bill Lee is pushing for an immediate pay raise for public school teachers, stepped up literacy training – including after school and summer camps devoted to literacy, and a plan to make allowance for low test scores this school year.
All of this sounds reasonable, and the legislature should move swiftly to enact these measures. But Lee is showing a bit of unreasonableness with a heavy-handed push to reopen all schools for in-person learning. He also continues to downplay the pandemic – implying that it cannot be used as an excuse to keep schools closed.
Of course, no one wants to see our school shuttered. But the coronavirus is real. It has claimed more than 8,300 lives in Tennessee – including more than 1,100 in Shelby County. People of color are those hardest hit by the virus, and schools in Memphis are in virtual learning for that very reason - something the governor fails to grasp.
Again, I applaud his efforts to address deficiencies in education with special attention by the legislature. But let’s not kid ourselves. The virus at the moment is still in control, and no amount of downplaying it will change that fact. And that’s my point of view.
