It’s time to go back to school for students here in Tennessee. For many, it’s a time of excitement, shopping for clothes like the new shoes you’ve had your eye on. Or all the new school supplies like paper, pens, pencils and of course you have to have the perfect backpack to hold everything so you’re all set!
But for others, this time of year brings anxiety. Why? Imagine you’re one of the many students that are homeless or otherwise economically disadvantaged and can’t afford these things. You are left scrambling and often have to settle for whatever you can get. As a result, such ones aren’t adequately prepared for the new school year.
How prevalent is the problem in our area?
In Volume 20, Issue 15 of this paper, we reported that the most recent data for the 2023-2024 school year approximately 4,500 students were identified as homeless.
Statewide the number jumps to 25,711 students which translates to 2.2 percent of the student population.
Thankfully, the McKinney-Vento Act ensures homeless students have equal access to public education and even provide a local liaison to help navigate the system. (There is one for EVERY county in Tennessee.) They provide assistance with things like:
- Transportation
- Free breakfast and lunch
- Basic school supplies and fees
- Tutoring and support
Similarly, the HERO program offers much needed support to this vulnerable segment of the student population offering the following services to students in Davidson County:
- Help with immediate school enrollment (ie help with paperwork, ie records, birth certificates, immunizations, and transportation)
- Supplies: backpacks, required uniforms and shoes
- Basic needs: food boxes and hygiene items
- Family fund: helps with things like application fees, utility assistance, and gas cards
Obviously programs like this can add much needed stability to an ongoing tenuous and stressful situation not only for the child/children involved, but to everyone in the family — still, it’s only a beginning and more needs to be done.
So when teachers hand out supply lists asking for things like extra Kleenex, hand sanitizer and markers please take a moment and think of these children and their teachers — who if they don’t receive these much needed items from the parents and grandparents, must often spend money out of their own pockets to ensure their students have what they need on hand. And in case you’re wondering, teachers DO NOT get paid what they’re worth in this writers opinion, especially since they often play such a vital role in our children’s lives.
According to the National Education Association, the average starting teacher salary in Tennessee is $47,230, which ranks 26th in the nation. How sad.
If you have the time and means to do so, why not go the extra mile and ask what more you can do to help out? Maybe volunteering your time or donating extra items from their wish lists.
As difficult as the lack of supplies are to deal with, sadly today’s children face even more problems. Imagine going to school every day in fear being unsure who would be waiting for you when you returned. That is the reality for many of the immigrant children in our school system. What has changed?
On July 1, 2026, a new law went into effect in Tennessee requiring institutions to collect data on a students’ immigration status, thereby revoking previous protections.
They also removed restrictions on ICE agents, meaning they can now enter public spaces like hospitals, churches, and yes, even schools without a warrant. This has led to increased absenteeism across the U.S., and any teacher will tell you directly affects a student’s school performance.
That’s A LOT for anyone to deal with, especially a child who is simply wanting to go to school to learn.
By now you may be thinking this information may be valid, but it only relates to certain segments of a school’s student population. These issues don’t have ANYTHING to do with me. That may be true, but chances are good that you know someone who is affected. Take a moment and put yourself in their shoes. How would you feel if these things were happening to you, or to your child?
Just in case you still can’t relate to the aforementioned challenges, I’ll move on to something that could easily affect ANYONE. It pays no attention to age, gender, race, color or creed. Many times it attacks its victims with relentless ferocity and for the injured parties, it doesn’t seem to have an end, and all too often, its impact is life-changing, in some cases even deadly.
What am I referring to? Bullying.
As a young girl with cerebral palsy who had braces on her legs until she was 8 or 9, who wore glasses and was a book nerd, I DEFINITELY experienced my share of bullying, but I must admit things are A LOT different than they were in my day.
Back then, you could face your bullies and decide for yourself if you wanted to handle it, either by tackling it head on or just ignoring it in the hope that it would stop or at least go away.
Today’s bullying is distinctively different with the advent of cyber-bullying. With this form of bullying, the bully uses digital devices like phones, tablets, and computers to harass, threaten or humiliate someone online.
Other major differences include:
- It occurs in text messages, social media, or other online formats, even video games
- It offers the culprit anonymity allowing them to hide their identity making it hard to trace them.
- It is persistent and can reach the victim any time of the day or night.
- It can attract a massive audience quickly, it can even go viral and once it’s posted, it can stay online permanently.
Just how serious is the problem?
In Tennessee, there were 12,124 cases of bullying reported during the 2023-2024 school year, of those 5,439 (45 percent) were confirmed 959 involved cyberbullying, and 75 were listed as pending, according the the Bullying and Harassment Compliance Report from 2024.
Additionally, meaganmeyerfoundation.org (an excellent resource on this topic) noted that adolescents who are experiencing cyberbullying are 2.5 times more likely to report suicidal thoughts than their peers, and they’re twice as likely to attempt suicide.
Please take it seriously, it poses a real threat to our young ones.
If the facts and figures mentioned so far aren’t enough to inspire fear in you, perhaps the ever-increasing number of school shootings will. Since the mass shooting at Columbine High School in 1999, more than 390,000 students have experienced gun violence at school.
Perhaps even more daunting is the fact that since the shooting that stunned our community at the Covenant School on March 27, 2023, there have been over 350 incidents reported according by the K-12 Shooting Database, as reported by WKRN News. (The fact that we need a database like this is appalling to me.)
Yes, gone are the days when you went to school and all you had to worry about was reading, writing and arithmetic. These days there is so much more to be concerned about than simply getting an education.
Best wishes to parents and children alike (including me) as we strive to navigate the new school year that lies ahead.