Nashville school board chair under fire after Caribbean vacation during the COVID-19 pandemic

Nashville, Memphis school leaders fire back as lawmakers target districts that have remained virtual

The parents who are now raising concerns are asking Buggs why she was traveling or frequenting restaurants while schools are closed. Some argue that restaurants and bars should have waited to reopen until after schools did, if the city was truly committed to getting students back in the classroom. 

“In her communications with parents as seen on her public Twitter account and her now-private Instagram page, Ms. Buggs has repeatedly called for the Nashville community to follow public health guidelines such as masking and limiting gatherings and travel so that Covid numbers in our community can improve and our children’s schools can reopen,” Lauren Herring, a Metro Schools parent, said by email. 

Why there’s still no timeline for when Metro Nashville Public Schools students will return to the classroom

Metro Nashville school board members haven’t technically moved to reopen or close schools.

Instead, that decision is left to Director of Schools Adrienne Battle and her team, through a proposed bill currently in front of state lawmakers would grant local school boards, and the governor, the authority to close or reopen schools in the case of an emergency.

Board members have also mostly been supportive of Battle’s plans.

Fielding dozens of emails, calls, and messages daily from parents — some advocating for schools to reopen and others expressing concerns with the district’s remote learning — most Metro Schools board members have said they think the district has been making the right decisions. 

Only board member Fran Bush has been critical of the district’s decision, siding with parents who are calling for schools to reopen and even publicly criticizing fellow board members and Battle.

In August, Bush helped organize a rally outside the district’s Bransford Avenue administrative offices to raise awareness of the struggles of virtual learning and call for students to return to the classroom. 

a move they also initiated with board member Gini Pupo-Walker last year.

Emboldened by pressure from Gov. Bill Lee after making remarks opening a special legislative session focused on education Tuesday, parents critical of Buggs alleged “hypocrisy” and are putting more pressure on the district.

Herring characterizes Metro Schools remaining closed as a “failure of leadership.” 

“Many in the Nashville community are desperate for their children to attend in-person school.  School systems both large and small across our country have been able to open their buildings to in-person learners and teachers by finding solutions to the problems presented by COVID,” she said in an email. “The genuine stubbornness of the MNPS School Board to explore their own solutions to these problems is a failure of leadership.”

Let Nashville Parents Choose also ask the school board to work to get students back in the classroom.

“We bear no animus towards Mayor Cooper or Chair Buggs.  It is noteworthy and newsworthy any time public officials do not practice what they preach,” Let Nashville Parents Choose said.  “They are entitled to live their lives and make the best choices for themselves and their families. We just ask that they work urgently to give other Nashville families the choices we need to stay whole during this pandemic, most importantly the resumption of in-person school.”

In addition to Lee, lawmakers are also putting pressure on Metro Nashville Public Schools and Shelby County Schools to reopen for in-person learning.

Legislation proposed this week even requires schools to conduct student testing in-person later this spring and other legislation ties in-person learning to state funding.

Whetherparents will actually move to recall Buggs is unknown, but for now, she said she believes the focus should be on the entire community doing its part to help end the pandemic.