Nashville, TN– The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) released the 5th set of school reopening toolkits in a series of more than 20 resources and guidance documents to assist districts as they plan for the upcoming school year.
This release makes available three classroom example videos along with four more reopening toolkits providing considerations, recommendations, and best practices to help district and school leaders dive deeper as they make local plans for the 2020-21 school year.
[1]Tennessee Department of Education Releases Five Additional Toolkits in Series of 20+ Reopening Resources.
The Tennessee Department of Education worked closely with the Tennessee Department of Health on guidance for physical health, safety, as well as the sample procedures and classroom videos.
“Our state and nation are navigating a new frontier for education, and the department is working hard to provide our districts with detailed and practical resources that will equip our leaders to make the best local decisions to meet these challenges,” said Commissioner Penny Schwinn. “As our state moves forward together, I am so grateful for the commitment of each of our districts to Tennessee’s students and how they are making thoughtful local reopening plans to keep our kids as the top priority.”
The following four toolkits are now available for districts to utilize:
- Physical Health [2]: This toolkit is designed to provide an overview of considerations related to school and public health safety and includes guidance for schools from the Tennessee Department of Health.
- School Improvement [3]: This toolkit includes strategies and best practices for supporting Priority and Focus school turnaround throughout the school re-opening process.
- Safety & Operations [4]: This toolkit is designed to assist district leaders, SAVE Act Coordinators, and operations leads as they consider the physical safety of students from both security and school building perspectives.
- Procedures Guide [5] and sample videos: This document is intended to take the guidance provided in the department’s LEA Guide and reopening toolkits and create sample procedures that schools can follow. Alongside this toolkit, the videos provide visual examples to help district leaders and school administrators think through considerations as they set-up classrooms in preparation for the fall.
- School Reopening Example Video: Classroom Set Up 1 [6]
- School Reopening Example Video: Classroom Set Up 2 [7]
- School Reopening Example Video: Classroom Set Up 3 [8]
The school reopening example videos are located on the Tennessee Department of Education’s YouTube channel [9].
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The department will update the toolkits after release to reflect district findings and best practices. Over the past week, the four sets of toolkits have been released, and the remaining examples and tools will be released following this schedule:
Monday, June 15th, 2020
- School Nutrition [10]
- Transportation [11]
- Special Populations [12]
- Finance [13]
- Implementation Guide Templates:
Tuesday, June 16th, 2020
- Technology [16]
- Wellbeing & Mental Health [17]
- Counseling [18]
- Early Childhood [19]
- Consolidated Funding [20]
Wednesday, June 17th, 2020
- Academics [21]
- Charter Schools [22]
- Nonpublic Schools [23]
- Access & Opportunity [24]
- Postsecondary Transitions [25]
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Thursday, June 18th, 2020
- Staffing [26]
- Professional Development [27]
- Assessing Student Learning [28]
- Governance [29]
Monday, June 22nd, 2020
- Continued Learning Plans, Template, and Example
- Expanded Planning Tool
The department released an Overview Guide for LEAs [30] last week, which provides broad considerations and questions for districts as each seeks to make the best local decisions for the upcoming school year.
The reopening toolkits, along with other guidance documents and resources, are available to schools and districts on the Tennessee Department of Education’s reopening guidance webpage: https://www.tn.gov/education/health-and-safety/update-on-coronavirus/reopening-guidance.html [30].
For Tennessee Department of Education media inquiries, contact Edu.MediaInquiries@tn.gov [31].