Tennessee Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) said Monday that it’s time for students to put their virtual learning behind and walk back into their classrooms — without a COVID-19 mask mandate.
And Sexton also said he and other state legislators have a plan to restrain public school district officials who think otherwise.
Sexton announced the news at a press conference at the Tennessee State Capitol.
This, after new data revealed falling test scores.
“What this does show is that we must continue to focus on reading, writing, and arithmetic, but also it really does emphasize that students need and must be in in-person learning in the classrooms. I sure hope that a school system in this state, after this data is released, does not shut their schools,” Sexton said.
“If they do then I will ask the governor for legislation to allow those parents in those school districts to take their money through school choice and to go wherever they deem they need to go. There needs to be a message to these school systems that it is unacceptable to close school systems in our state anymore.”
Sexton also said parents alone should decide whether their children will wear masks in schools.
“I sure hope that school systems do not require a mask mandate for those students. If they do then I will ask the governor for a special session. If they close the schools then I will ask the governor for a special session,” Sexton said.
“And if we hear, which we have been hearing, that school systems are going to segregate students based on who is vaccinated and unvaccinated then I’m going to ask the governor for a special session. The time is of the essence to improve these scores and get the students back in the classroom.”
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said at the press conference that he and other state officials remain in close contact with the Tennessee Department of Health (TDOH). TDOH officials continue to monitor the impacts of COVID-19 and the Delta variant on children, Lee said.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Rep. Sexton” by Rep. Cameron Sexton.
[…] If they close the schools then I will ask the governor for a special session,” Sexton said at a recent press […]
Defund public schools. Allow choice.
There should have been a special session for Lockdown Lee to stop his unconstitutional executive orders, including “giving” authority to county mayors to implement his lockdowns and masking. The Republican supermajority just can’t do it though. They will take a shot at county government, but not their Republican king.
“In questions of power, then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.”
-Thomas Jefferson, Kentucky Resolutions of 1798
Where was Sexton last year when Lee went beyond his authority? Nowhere to be found. That’s where.
I believe UT has a mask mandate this fall…. gonna go after them too??
So Shelby county said they are issuing a mask mandate? Is Mr. Sexton aware of that? If he hasn’t called for his “special session” it looks like he’s already fallen behind.
The rule in my house, growing up, was that if you did not have a fever, you were going to school. It’s how kids build immunity in the first place. Pick those buggers kids!
I’m so thankful my children have long since completed school. I’m also thankful that my grandchildren attend a rural public school , where most of this idiotic hysteria has never existed. Nonetheless , I hope parents stand up to the clowns trying to manipulate for all the COVID BS again, and send their children to school without abusing them with masks , social distancing , and the dangerous COVID jab.
Watch closely as government creates solutions for problems that they have created. And then they claim that they “saved us”. It’s an endless cycle!
Government must constantly change the focal point, for fear that us troglodytes will step off the hamster wheel and recognize our true enemy. Fortunately for us, Trump pulled the cork out of that bottle and now we patriots are woke!
Open schools, no virtual BS, and teachers that don’t want to teach quit. Screw this stupid BS..