MNPS School Board Member Fran Bush Discusses Her Crusade to Get Kids Back in School and Playing Sports

 

Live from Music Row Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. –  host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed MNPS District Six school board member Fran Bush to the newsmakers line.

During the third hour, Bush explained her position calling for in-person school and sports to resume in Davidson County. She added that underserved students are seriously being hurt, and that she continues to be ignored by the director of schools Dr. Battle while they are playing politics with students.

Leahy: I’m in the studio with Carol Swain. And on the newsmaker line my new hero, metro school board member Fran Bush. Welcome, Fran.

Bush: Hi. Good morning. Good morning everybody. How is everybody doing this morning?

Swain: Hi Fran. Thank you so much for everything you are doing.

Bush: Oh, hi Carol it’s so great to hear from you.

Leahy: Wow. I am just very impressed by your public stance calling for football to be played. Now Metro Public Schools. Every other public school apparently in the state will be playing football but they are not doing it here. What is going on with that? And tell us why you think they should be playing football.

Bush: Well you know it’s very, very disheartening, and I am so disgusted with the decisions that are made by the administration and also in correlation with the mayor’s office. They have connected the dots. And they are playing politics with our kids.

It’s simply unacceptable. There is no reason that our kids should not be able to participate in their sport. We have kids that have come out and said hey, we’ve done everything right this summer to condition and yet we are still being punished.

And all of our friends around us are playing their sport. They are getting their film. We have a lot of children that come from Metro Public Schools that are in under-served communities and this is their out. They work hard to maintain their GPA and Dr. Battle is not listening to these children. And it is horrible.

Leahy: And the science behind, as you point out, is just not there. The high school teams were playing and following the guidelines. None of the kids got COVID-19. And in every other county public schools and private schools in Davidson County are playing football. Its really really harming them.

Bush: Yes. So here’s the deal. Here’s the science. And here’s the reality behind the science. Dr.  Hildred and Dr. Jahangir are behind the reason why these students are not playing. Only MNPS students. And yet, like you just pointed out, that everybody else in the district is playing right? So the other schools in the district say we hear your science and we hear your numbers but we are going to go with our science. People who are in the epidemiology world and the pediatric world. And we are also going to consult with them.

So it was an all-out one and one side. They did their homework. And that’s why they are playing because the science doesn’t add up for these students. Yes, it may be a positive result. And we know COVID is not going away. But what are we going to do? Are we going to keep these kids sheltered like this? No, we can’t. We have to do exactly what they say safely.

Leahy: You know I’ve followed this controversy very closely, and I’ve learned something from you that is stunningly obvious. So this guy, Alex Jahangir from Vanderbilt, is apparently the big medical expert that the mayor is relying upon. He’s an orthopedic surgeon, not an epidemiologist. You pointed that out, Fran.

Bush: Yes. I was totally shocked and I cannot believe that we were following the science behind this. I’m not saying that he’s not a nice person, and I’m not saying he doesn’t mean well. But this is not his area of expertise. And we had a doctor that comes from Vanderbilt in the pediatric role of immunizations and epidemiology, and they didn’t listen.

They did a wonderful presentation of why students should be back in school and what is harming them right now. Not just virtual learning. That’s one component that’s harming them. We are talking about emotionally. We have to look at their emotional well being. These kids are becoming stressed and very much disengaged. And some aren’t even logging onto the computer. That’s another problem we are having. We are going to get totally behind academically.

The science doesn’t add up. And Dr. Hildred, this is the public health department. There are other counties that have said, we hear you health department, but we are going to go with the American Association of Pediatrics and their recommendations. And we are going to go with the CDC recommendations and open the schools. And they are doing it. And MNPS, I cannot believe I have been here all my life, and I’ve never seen this happen before.

Leahy: Just to be clear. Right now there is no in-person instruction. You want that to stop. You want in-person instruction to start. Do I have that right?

Bush: Yes, absolutely. Again when we look at the science of experts they are saying that this is going to be detrimental to our kids. Meaning in a year and a half or two years it will take that long for these kids to recover academically.

So what does that look like? That means our average kindergartener or second grader will fall behind those years. Meaning that those teachers are going to do double or triple down of bringing those kids up to their grade levels. And literacy is out the door.

Swain: Fran, am I correct in believing that these public school teachers are being paid the same, and I would say even though they are having far less work? By keeping the kids at work it also takes away the fact that Nashville Public Schools were doing a poor job of educating inner-city children anyway?

Bush: Yes. I’m glad you point that out. And yes that is definitely accurate. And that’s why most of our students are in underserved communities that are going to suffer the most. And then we need to get these students back in the classroom safely. But what we’ve found out is that these schools are not ready. All the time that we thought, and I thought, that we were preparing our schools for safe return, that is not the case.

Leahy: Let me ask this Fran. Back in March Dr. Battle was unanimously appointed as the director of schools. And now you are telling her, hey we need to get back to school. We need to start sports. What is the response you are getting and what’s going to happen next?

Bush: Well I made the recommendation back in April. We did a survey with several of our parents and gave them options. It’s all about options for these parents. And a high number of parents and data came back, and our results came back that parents want their early learning students back in-person.

So those who couldn’t go back would have an option for virtual and in-person. After that survey, I thought that would be some sort of timeline of making sure that our teachers were on board and what teachers were willing to go back.

Of course, teachers make up part of this equation. None of that was done. And we have the president of the MNEA, who is basically convincing these teachers that it’s so deadly to go back. We have so many different bad players here. And it’s not right.

And the kids are suffering. And there are a lot of teachers that are doing the best they can, and we are very proud of what they are doing with what they have. However, those teachers that want to get back in the classroom, and there are so many, want to get back.

Leahy: When you make your case to Dr. Battle for going back to school in-person and for having football now for these high school students how does she respond to you?

Bush: Oh my goodness. It is so horrible. Not just for football. We have soccer, volleyball, and track. These coaches have said to her, please let us have a seat at the table so we can tell you how we can do this safely. She refused to do it up until she got pressured to do it.  And then at the last hour, she was about to have a meeting but she really didn’t want to listen to them. They had a playbook on safety measures on how they can get back into their sport. They didn’t want to hear that.

Leahy: Does she talk to you? Does she talk to you when you say these things or does she ignore you?

Bush: She ignores everything that I’ve asked her to do. I have sent her text messages, and I said look at this young man. When they had their press conference last week and this young man stood up and he said please, I have a 4.2 GPA I’ve done everything right academically.

I have this scholarship and I could be going to Yale and Princeton. My family can’t afford this but this is my opportunity. I sent her a text and said hey look at this young man. I sent her a second one and I gave her his story and she completely ignored my text messages.

Swain: I can tell you that I have felt all along that she was not the right person for that position. And so once again, Mayor Cooper has let down the city by taking the easy way out and not trying to address a problem.

Bush: Yes. And I will tell you that I met with Mayor Cooper yesterday. The meeting was absolutely a disaster. He actually threw a temper tantrum.

Swain: You mean tiny tot threw a temper tantrum?

Leahy: Oh, dear.

Bush: He literally raised his voice to me twice when I was very calm and I was raising my points.

Listen to the full third hour here:

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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to the Tennessee Star Reportwith Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.