Universities prepare for monkeypox
Good afternoon!
This is Liz Schubauer, the Tennessean's city editor, and I'm happy to report the Tennessean has hired a new education and children's issues reporter. We didn't have to look far. Anika Exum has been covering education in Williamson County for us since January 2021.
She starts her new beat this week, and she'll take the reins of this newsletter next week. Please welcome her, introduce yourselves and send along news tips to aexum@tennessean.com.
Here's the top education news of the week:.
Tennessee slow to apply for summer food aid
Tennessee lagged behind most of the country in applying for a federal summer food fund program that opened in May, statehouse reporter Melissa Brown revealed. The state eventually received approval to distribute more than $311 million to needy families.
The benefits will go to nearly 800,000 Tennessee children as part of the Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer, or P-EBT. The program was designed at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic to compensate families for missed school meals.
In July, The Tennessean asked the Department of Human Services if it intended to apply for summer 2022 benefits, in addition to inquiring about significant delays in distributing backdated benefits from the 2021-2022 school year.
But the state's application indicates it did not apply for summer benefits until Aug. 17. The federal government approved Tennessee's application just days later on Aug. 24. The state plans to distribute the benefits in late September.
Meanwhile, a study released by the Hamilton Project, a policy initiative at the Brookings Institution think tank, found that food insufficiency was substantially lower in states that distributed timely P-EBT benefits, while there was an "immediate and large increase in food insufficiency among low-income households with children at the start of the summer."
Education leader joins White House talk on teacher shortage
Tennessee Department of Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn joined a White House meeting Wednesday to discuss national efforts to address teacher shortages.
According to a White House memo, several major job search companies will set up ways school districts can recruit and hire prospective teachers, plus ways teachers looking for jobs can find openings, USA TODAY reported.
Among the companies are ZipRecruiter, Handshake and Indeed.
Schwinn said she attended as a representative of the Council of Chief State School Officers, or CCSSO. First lady Jill Biden, a longtime community college professor, hosted the White House discussion on the teacher shortage to formally announce the partnerships. She was joined by Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, other administration officials, governors and executives from the three job search companies.
In an interview with Commercial Appeal education reporter Laura Testino after the meeting, Schwinn pointed to the importance of public and private sector collaboration toward improving the teaching profession, from improving respect and salaries to filling teaching vacancies with a larger pipeline of future teachers to encouraging career shifts to teaching.
Schwinn highlighted the state’s “Grow Your Own” apprenticeship program as a national example.
“What we want to make sure that we do is we say we need more folks to be interested in the profession, that we make sure that it is something that people want to do, but more importantly we are creating very clear…pathways to becoming a teacher,” Schwinn told The Commercial Appeal.
Universities prepare for monkeypox
Students and staff at Tennessee's universities may be mentally moving on from coronavirus, but they are already facing a new disease: monkeypox.
Epidemiologists and health experts across the state are urging colleges to repeatedly communicate with students about the symptoms of monkeypox, how the virus spreads and how to protect themselves, higher education reporter Becca Wright reported.
The disease, related to smallpox, is spread through close contact and causes a rash and sometimes flu-like symptoms. The outbreak started to spread rapidly in July and August.
College campuses create a unique challenge for navigating monkeypox, explained East Tennessee State University's infectious disease chief Dr. Jonathan Moorman.
"This is a disease that is contact-spread," Moorman said. "When you live really close to each other, and live in close proximity, with a young population that is more sexually active, we worry with a contact disease, at least right now. Colleges are a little more challenging. If somebody does get it, it's very difficult to isolate when people are living in dorms or apartments together."
Toni Williams appointed interim superintendent in Memphis
Toni Williams, newly appointed interim superintendent of Memphis-Shelby County Schools, said she's beginning her temporary tenure by initiating a review of business operations and procedures, Testino reported.
Williams' nomination and appointment by the board Aug. 30 included her financial management accolades alongside her lack of interest in the permanent superintendent position, a meaningful attribute to the board as it embarks on a national search for a permanent superintendent.
The board was criticized for abandoning a national search and promoting then-interim superintendent Joris Ray to the permanent position in April 2019.
Williams will be at the helm throughout the search for a permanent successor to Ray, who capped off a decades-long career with the district with nearly four years at the helm before exiting last week while under investigation. As part of the conditions of his exit, the board paid him a severance of approximately $480,000 and halted the investigation before it was complete.
"When I lead, I will have two focuses at mind here," Williams told reporters. "Academic performance: I mean, we have a dynamic academics team. We are a Level 5 district, so I am committing to supporting our academics team to continue that momentum.
"Number two: Our business operations processes and procedures, I want to do a review of that."
Williamson County Schools launches anti-bullying reporting system
Williamson County Schools announced a new online bullying reporting method for students and parents, Exum reported. In addition to other reporting options, incidents can now be reported via an online form.
This new reporting method comes after district discussions on standardizing student handbooks and efforts to create consistency districtwide on discipline methods. Officials made the commitment last year in response to recommendations by diversity and inclusion consultants following an influx of reports of discrimination, including those involving race, sexuality and disability.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Universities prepare for monkeypox
