— Sumner County Mayor Anthony Holt has again extended the county’s emergency declaration.
Holt said Friday morning the order had been extended through April 23. The emergency declaration was first issued on March 20.
Sumner County will continue running essential government functions. Residents were asked to conduct business over the phone or online when possible.
MORE>The Beech girls basketball program announced Thursday, April 9 that Lauran Elkins would take over as girls basketball coach, effective immediately. She is the seventh coach in Lady Buccaneer program history.Elkins replaces former coach and Athletic Director Kristi Utley, who stepped down after four seasons in March.
The FY 2020-2021 budget also fully funds the state’s Basic Education Program (BEP) through a new $50.3 million investment and it provides $58.7 million for teacher pay raises.Here's the reality:
It reduces the BEP inflationary adjustment and cuts in half the initial proposed increase in the teacher salary component.
Here's the full budget amendment.Also, according to Chalkbeat, the budget proposal retains $37 million to fund the first year of Lee’s voucher scheme:
Lee retained $37 million for education savings accounts, a controversial program set to start this fall to let eligible families in Memphis and Nashville use taxpayer money to pay for private school tuition.
MORE>There’s no exact strategy for unprecented scenarios like the coronavirus, which is why one Middle Tennessee teacher is turning to technology as a way to alleviate stress and inform future students.“I teach social studies and history classes at Station Camp High School in Gallatin,” explained Drew Van Huss.Van Huss is encouraging fellow teachers to approach quarantine education with honest hands-on videos in a coronavirus time capsule project.
Last week, Mayor Paige Brown, Mayor Anthony Holt, Chris Taylor, me, and the health community of Sumner County stood opposed to reopening the Gallatin Rehab Center that we evacuated 11 days ago.The corporation that owns the center and the TN Department of Health overrode us and sent patients back three days after closure. There was zero transparency about cleaning, zero transparency about whether patients who were positive for COVID were being transported back, and zero transparency about quarantining staff members exposed to the virus. ZERO!Now, patients are dying. Our first responders are exposed repeatedly as they move patients back and forth. More employees and residents are exposed to COVID in the center.It is beyond appalling that this is allowed to go on.
These deaths are not a statistic. They are grandparents, parents, and friends.
