January 11, 2021
TSS today announced a new campaign to promote childhood literacy improvements and work with the Tennessee General Assembly to advocate for the passage of long-overdue strategies to improve the state’s literacy rates.
The TNLitNow campaign will direct Tennesseans to advocacy tools to reach out to their legislators to advocate for the bold and urgent action needed to chart a new path to success for hundreds of thousands of students. TSS will also coordinate the donation of thousands of books to schools across Tennessee, with a particular focus on communities with high populations of low-income families.
The deadline for book donation submissions is January 14, 2021. Visit www.tnlitnow.com to learn more.
To view the press release online, click here.
Last week, Governor Lee announced his intention to convene the Tennessee General Assembly in a special legislative session on education to address critical issues facing public education which include addressing the literacy crisis and pandemic-related learning loss. Read our full statement on this special session here.
The 112th General Assembly will begin tomorrow, Tuesday, January 12th, kicking things off with an organizational week. The special session will begin on January 19th. For more information, visit the Tennessee Capitol’s website here.
On Friday it was announced that after a revision of the COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan, individuals older than 70 would receive priority for receiving the vaccine. Tennessee educators are expected to be added to the list by early February. Read more about Tennessee’s vaccination plans concerning educators here.
Additionally, the Tennessee Department of Health is launching a statewide online scheduling system in the coming days for COVID-19 vaccine appointments to prevent individuals from waiting for hours in line. Read more here.
Last week, the Tennessee Department of Education announced a literacy initiative that will provide $100 million in optional grants and resources to help Tennessee students develop strong phonics-based reading skills through different approaches and resources such as tutoring, training, and online tools which will support districts, teachers, and families. To learn more about this new investment, visit the Department’s site here.