The MNPS Board voted tonight to end their universal mask mandate on March 11, signing onto director Adrienne Battle's recommendation. Fran Bush voted no. Sharon Gentry was absent. I'll add an embed of the video once it's posted on YouTube.
Of course, Fran Bush's "no" vote wasn't because she wanted the mask mandate to remain in effect; rather, she wanted it to be removed effective immediately.
As usual, student board members Abenezer Haile and Angelie Quimbo had some of the more articulate comments of the evening. They gave some clear reasoning, provided evidence albeit anecdotal, and, most importantly, kept their comments relatively brief.
But what stuck out to me most was the director recommendation part. I tried long and hard to think of a time that this board has voted against any of Battle's recommendations, and I can't think of one. Now, I haven't been watching school board meetings closely for all that long — really just the better part of a year — but I think that highlights how this board feels about their director and their relationship to the director.
The board is supposed to provide oversight to the director of schools; they're supposed to be the director's boss. But this board has acted like the director is their friend. And they've said it in so many words. As recently as tonight's meeting, board members were referring to Battle as "my friend" which is drastically different than how at least one assistant principal at my school views her relationships with colleagues.
The other big thing that stood out to me was how much work each board member had put into their speeches in support of a mask mandate, before voting to end the mask mandate. It felt like a weird juxtaposition of their belief that the mask mandate should continue alongside their acknowledgement that they almost needed to vote this way to get re-elected. Only the even districts are up for re-election this year, but that sense of a reluctant, politically-motivated vote pervaded every comment made by non-student board members.
Except for Gini Pupo-Walker. She clearly understands that since she's not running for re-election, she can do whatever she "fucking" wants. She cried. She said "fucking" live on public-access television. She seemed to have a great time tonight.
I guess at some point in this post, I should share my opinion on the vote. I think the board made the right decision. I have been thinking about this for a long time, ever since the universal mask mandate was re-instituted in a hurry in August 2021. There was never going to be a good time to remove the policy, but it's clear to anyone who steps foot out of the house that we as a nation have moved on from covid.
The board got lucky with a fade out of the mask policy in the summer of 2021. After ending the year with a mandate in place, the policy was changed to just recommend masking during the Promising Scholars summer program. And then the plan was to completely fade it out by the time the school year started in August. Then everything got bad again and the delta surge happened, and a return to the mask policy was inevitable. The board must have realized they weren't going to get lucky with another convenient timeline to end mask policy.
The board meeting ended with a strange comment from chair Christiane Buggs. It was hard to follow, but she basically threatened people for having threatened school board members, just minutes after the board gave into those threats by voting to end the mask mandate.
A weird way to end a weird meeting. At least that shows some consistency.
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Disclaimer: While I am an employee of Metro Nashville Public Schools, and therefore Metro Nashville Government, the views expressed on this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer or the city.
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