The Metro Nashville Board of Education is gathered in-person today. Eight of the nine board members are present for a quick governance committee meeting ahead of tonight's regularly scheduled board meeting.

Some things to note tonight:
1. This is my first in-person MNPS board meeting and I didn't get lost.
2. Metro's board room is prettier than @hamcoschools.
3. Capacity is limited in the room tonight and audience chairs are spread out/socially-distanced.

There has been some talk on social media about parents signing up to speak ahead of tonight's meeting. Both @MNEA_ and @LetNashville are rallying outside the administrative office building this evening.

Today is also the first day that schools reopened in Nashville.

The district's special day centers opened to a small # of students last month, but more than 10,000 students including grades K-2, returned to school buildings across the district today. https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/education/2020/10/13/nashville-schools-reopen-grades-k-2-amid-covid-19-pandemic/5965615002/

The board meeting is beginning with public participation tonight. Each person addressing the board will have two minutes. At least 14 people are signed up, but most are lined up outside the board room.

Christi Mayo, a parent of a 4th grader and a "junior female athlete" is up first.

"Thank you for allowing our students to get back on the field, that was important for them," Mayo tells the board.

Mayo: "But it's equally important for parents to be on the field watching their students."

Though the district said games would be livestreamed, Mayo said that is not true. She says she is missing out on valuable film footage of her student athlete.

Mayo, like many parents, notes that Nashville has moved into Phase 3 and that the Tennessee @Titans' stadium has opened up so therefore parents should have access to stadiums and watching their students play as well.

Mayo says she believes the inability to get film footage of her daughter's soccer team compared to boys' football games being livestreamed violates Title 9.

Felicia Lively is also here tonight. Her daughter is a senior at Hillwood. Lively is also here to express how devastating it is that she can’t attend her child’s games this fall.

Lively: “Parents should be allowed to go and attend the games.”

Lively says she feels like county schools are being punished since private schools and neighboring county schools are able to have fans in attendance at their games.

She asks the district to meet parents halfway and even let them just sit in the parking lot.

Nicole Corey, a certified pediatric nurse practitioner and mother of three (two who are enrolled in MNPS schools) is up next. She is concerned about the delay @MetroSchools students have faced when it goes to reopening schools.

Corey: "I have hundreds of patients who are MNPS students. As a mom and a pediatric NP, I want to advocate for not only my own children but all of my patients and their families." (1/2)

When @MetroSchools announced in July that the school year would start virtually, Corey said she was furious.

"I was furious then and I am furious now at the injustice that MNPS kids have encountered compared to their surrounding county and private school peers."

Tony Griffy, who says he is with the @MetroSchools IT department, is up next. He is speaking about something that has been troubling him for a long time.

He is addressing God and America's founding and forefathers.

Most of the speakers have not been able to finish their thoughts but have politely stopped and left when their time has been up so far.

Greg Jones, a "first-time parent of a MNPS child" who is a freshman at Hume Fogg asks the board to put themselves in the shoes of a young woman who doesn't know when she is going to go back (to school).

Jones says the reality is that the coronavirus will be with us for a long time. He is concerned that his high schooler will have been out almost year by the time they return in January (under the current timeline).

Note: 35 folks are signed up to speak tonight.

The meeting is also supposed to be livestreamed on MNN this evening, but there are currently some technical issues.

Cassie Norton, in a #Red4Ed shirt is up next. She is sharing thoughts from teachers who don't feel safe addressing the board in-person tonight.

They are concerned about the inability for high-risk teachers to work from home per the district currently.

Norton says she is relatively young and doesn't have pre-existing conditions but is scared of the long-term complications/consequences of contracting the virus and of the possibility of her students contracting the virus.

Victoria Gordon, a Nashville Propel parent leader, is here tonight, speaking on behalf of John Little, a candidate for the MNPS school board.

Gordon, who said she has become her son, Malik's, teacher/support specialist/etc is presenting demands “from our classroom.”

Regarding the curriculum that MNPS is using, Gordon says that it was created with the average student in mind, but she doesn't have the average student in her home.

He is enrolled in sixth grade but is on a 3rd grade level in math and a 2nd grade reading level.

Gordon wants a plan to get Malik on track.

Torvis Gardner, also a Nashville Propel parent leader, says that before 2015 "no students was left behind" but now "parents have been left behind."

He is the father of a third grader and wants parents to have a voice in the virtual learning experience.

Some of the challenges Gardner has experienced/heard from parents include learning loss, lack of internet, hotspots not working, devices not working, lack of tech support and parents who are unable to help their children with their schoolwork.

Note: Gordon's son Malik was present here tonight :)

Next up is Shonka Dukureh. She thanks @MetroSchools Ex Ed Director Sonya Dobbs, who met with Nashville Propel parents to walk them through exceptional education and what to expect while learning was remote.

Dukureh's child is an exceptional learner. He is currently failing on his classes but one. But she says the grades don't reflect her son's ability. He is missing out on the critical support that give him assess to the curriculum and education being offered.

Dukureh asks: "What does a parent do who doesn't understand the work? Or doesn't understand how to work the computer to access the virtual work?"