In August, the Scene ran a story about Nashville’s students returning to school and the challenges that the COVID-19 Delta variant would pose. Now, halfway through the school year, they return from winter break to a similar situation amid a surge from an entirely new COVID variant.
Despite a rocky start to the semester, Delta-related COVID cases began to wane as fall wore on. But just as students left for winter break, the Omicron variant replaced Delta as Tennessee’s dominant strain and primary cause for concern. Though the new variant appears less likely to cause extreme illness, it is more transmissible, and the state is currently facing one of its most significant surges since the start of the pandemic. As students returned from winter break on Monday — delayed from Friday due to last week’s heavy snowfall — Metro Nashville Public Schools reported that 269 staff members and 88 students were confirmed positive for COVID-19, while another 82 staff members and 46 students were in quarantine.
So what has and hasn’t changed in MNPS’ response to the virus?
Since the start of the school year, students have been required to wear masks despite state lawmakers’ efforts to prevent mask mandates (though the state is currently attempting to fight that via appeal). At the December MNPS board meeting — before the impact of the Omicron variant was fully realized — director of schools Adrienne Battle recommended that the board consider removing the mandate after winter break. District spokesperson Sean Braisted confirms that Battle’s recommendation no longer stands amid the surge in cases, and the board will not vote on the matter at the next meeting.
“We already had some of the strongest mitigation strategies in place for Tennessee,” says Braisted. “We started off the year’s planning and professional development remotely in order to limit further spread of the virus after winter break. We are distributing KN95 masks to schools that can work for staff and have been exploring the availability of child-sized KN95s for others.”
Another major defense: Nearly all school-age children are old enough to be vaccinated against COVID-19. When school started in August, students ages 12 and up were approved for vaccination. Now, kids 5 and up are eligible, and kids 12 and older can get boosters. MNPS has offered vaccine clinics to parents and students since the start of the school year.
The district also offered rapid testing in the last week of winter break — one day of testing was canceled due to inclement weather — and schools have supplies to test students, though an email from the district told parents to keep symptomatic students away from school altogether and get them tested elsewhere. Citing a new state law, the district says close contacts are no longer required to quarantine, though it notes that parents should monitor symptoms and consider testing after five days. Metro schools are following guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which recently shortened the isolation period from 10 days to five. Students and teachers who cannot attend school but are still feeling well can engage with classes through short-term virtual instruction. State laws prohibit entire districts from switching to remote learning, though individual schools and classes may do so with the permission of the education commissioner.
While student well-being is crucial, it cannot be maintained without sufficient staff — an issue that the district has been battling since before the pandemic, and one that is taking a toll on MNPS employees (and schools across the country). For months, teachers, support staff and bus drivers have been pleading for additional staff and compensation for the extra work the vacancies force them to take on. Kelly Ann Graff, a teacher at Thurgood Marshall Middle School and a member of the Nashville teachers’ union, says the district has taken away extra time off reserved for COVID-related absences — and teacher absences mean they sometimes have to combine classes.
“We’re seeing [COVID-19] numbers rise, we’re going to see more bereavement leave, we’re going to see more mental health days, we’re going to see more teachers out of the classroom because we’re existing during the pandemic,” says Graff. “And we are already facing a substitute shortage, so … I just feel like it’s just gonna get worse, just from a numbers point of view. … Even if a teacher is … COVID-positive and teaching from home, there’s still going to need to be an adult in the room supervising that classroom. And even as numbers were decreasing, or at least plateauing, we already didn’t have enough.”
In addition to more bus drivers and substitute teachers, Graff wants to see more school psychologists, counselors and social workers, “because we’re seeing students who are struggling to adjust to in-person learning.”
“I teach seventh grade,” she says. “My [students] haven’t had a full school year since fourth grade, and so they’re struggling with those adjustments in addition to struggling with living through a pandemic.”
NPR reports that across the country, students have been struggling with mental health issues exacerbated by a year of virtual learning and the trauma of COVID-19 — especially students of color, who on average have seen more family deaths due to systemic inequity. The American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Children’s Hospital Association have declared what they call a “national emergency in child and adolescent mental health,” citing “stress brought on by COVID-19 and the ongoing struggle for racial justice.” Since students returned to school, MNPS has worked to address mental health by establishing social and emotional learning techniques and placing advocacy centers in elementary schools, though as Graff notes, they need more hands on deck.
Despite the challenges that schools continue to face, the CDC and AAP prioritize keeping students in school. The Scene spoke with two parents who trust schools to take care of their kids.
“I trust the current school administration, and I especially trust my kids’ school principal and assistant principal to do their very best to protect the kids and the school staff,” says Elizabeth Hines, who has two kids at MNPS and is chair of the Parent Advisory Council.
Another Parent Advisory Council representative, Anne-Marie Farmer, tells the Scene: “I think for my kids, the year has gone as well as it could. I have seen our principals and our teachers and our school staff really hustling, really making it the best school year it can be. So I’m thankful to them, and I’m grateful for everything that’s been going on. I think it’s right that the district has tried … to get as close to a normal school year as we’ve been able to, while also not pretending that nothing’s happening and that the pandemic’s over.”
