Jackson-Madison County NAACP responds to reopening schools

JACKSON, Tenn.– A local group is responding to plans for reopening local schools in August.

“We think that, given our recent uptick in terms of COVID-19, the state of Tennessee has to, in our minds, rethink opening schools,” Harrell Carter, president of the Jackson-Madison County branch of the NAACP, said.

Carter said it’s too soon for schools to physically open their doors to students and staff.

However, he supports the option of online schooling.

“It does cost money to keep them home. It is something that’s unavoidable,” Carter said. “We believe that lives are better suited if they are home, given this pandemic.”

Recently, Jackson-Madison County Schools announced three options for students: in-person, virtual, or cyber school.

Over the weekend, Carter and Jackson-Madison County School System’s superintendent Dr. Marlon King talked on the phone about the NAACP’s statement.

“I think we agree that more communication is needed, and Dr. King has done a great job in trying to reorganize our district,” Carter said. “It is unfortunate that forces beyond Dr. King, and ourselves, those that are making decisions to put kids back into a classroom. It’s a government decision, a political decision.”

He also said there is not a disagreement between them.

Dr. King posted on Twitter about the discussion and said, “We both agreed that this should have been a collaborative conversation, and moving forward, we will work #TOGETHER on issues concerning JMCSS.”

Jackson-Madison County Schools start back August 24.

Below is the full statement from the Jackson-Madison County branch of the NAACP:

“Tennessee has been identified as one of the states on the rise with Covid-19. Because of the  recent local increase of infections and deaths, our students, teachers, staff and their families would be at risk. We encourage school administration, elected leaders and health department officials, to rethink their position of returning to schools and instead prepare teachers, parents and students for virtual on-line learning until this virus is under control. Saving lives should be our number one goal.”