Governor Lee’s Safer at Home Executive Order 22 urged Tennesseans to stay at home when not conducting essential business. Yesterday, the Governor issued Executive Order 23 that changed this to mandatory. Tennesseans that are not conducting essential business must stay at home. Essential is defined in Executive Orders 17, 21 and 22. All of the Governor’s Executive Orders can be found by clicking here.
There are now 22 residents of Cumberland County have tested positive for COVID-19, the novel coronavirus. Contact tracing is standard in all cases, so if you have been in close contact with someone that has tested positive, you will be notified.
The number of cases started off with one or two positives. The positive results are getting larger and will continue to do so. DO YOUR PART, STAY APART!
The Health Department continues testing Monday – Friday from 9:00 AM until 3:00 PM. For more information call 931-484-6196.
Cumberland County Schools Update
On March 31, 2020 Cumberland County Schools rolled out a Continuity of Instruction Plan. A Skyward alert was sent to all families announcing where they can find continued learning opportunities through the official county schools website, ccschools.k12tn.net, the school district’s Facebook page, as well as the individual school and/or teacher webpages. Teachers were asked to call and make contact with the families of their students. The response has been overwhelmingly positive, as teachers are contacting families who are anxious to continue learning for their students! The district has developed learning packets for K-8 students that may be picked up at individual feeder-school sites beginning Monday, April 6, 2020. An additional option for pick-up is available through a kind offer from Staples–they will print individual packets for students if they are requested. Packets will be available each Monday during feeding times for pick-up. Physical packets for learning and information were provided as so many of our population does not have access to reliable internet and/or devices for online learning.
At the high school level, individual teachers are providing online interaction initiated and continued by individual classroom teachers. They also will develop packets for those without access to online learning.
The Commissioner has announced a PBS partnership that is also providing high quality lessons for students.
Participation in any of these opportunities is voluntary as we really can’t know how many students can access opportunities online or may be unable to get to a site to pick up packets. Any grades taken from the completion of packets or online activities will be used only if it enhances a student’s average.
Cumberland County Schools is feeding many children 18 and under each day. More students are added daily. The April 1, 2020 total meal count was 3,268. As of March 31, the school district had far surpassed the number of meals served during the summer feeding program. The state is recommending that we reduce the number of delivery days but not the number of meals we offer. This simply means that if the school district were to go to 2 or 3 days a week for delivery, it would supply enough meals to last students until the next delivery date.
At the Central Office, the school district allows a few essential personnel to take care of essential tasks. Cumberland County Schools is continuing pay and benefits for all full-time employees without interruption.
Thank you for being part of the solution and thank you for the opportunity to serve as your County Mayor. If you are interested in following the events of the county, please subscribe to my newsletter, and follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Thank you,
Allen Foster
Cumberland County Mayor
allenfoster.com 