"We were supposed to be going back on Feb. 8, and they told us a week before that that wasn't going to happen," she said. Under his legislation, Kelsey said school board members — elected officials who answer to voters — would determine when to open or close schools. They could also delegate that power to individual school directors if they so choose, he said. The one-way clause to allow the governor the ability to force school opening instead of closing, Kelsey said, is designed specifically to respond to the "political pressure" Shelby County Schools is under. "The political pressure on these school board members is to remain closed, not to open," he said. "It is purely out of spite that they are keeping these schools closed. Purely out of spite. It is purely political. They are listening to the teachers' unions and not to the parents."