Photos of maskless students, crowded halls put Georgia schools in the spotlight
Crowded hallways and students not wearing masks marked the first day back to school in Georgia, online photos show.
Students in several metro-Atlanta counties returned to school this week. However, a couple of now-viral photos have sparked concern amid rising coronavirus cases across the state.
Cherokee County Schools started back Monday, and students at Etowah High School in Woodstock marked the occasion with a group picture. The seniors gathered outside the school, with few of them wearing face masks.
A similar photo at nearby Sequoyah High School showed students huddled close together for a “back to class” snapshot, CBS 46 reported. The image was initially posted to the school’s Instagram page but was deleted after online backlash.
Criticism has been swift, but Cherokee County school officials insist the district is adhering to a comprehensive reopening plan that ensures the health and safety of all students and staff.
“As with every first day of school, students and parents took ‘first day’ photos before school started outside of the schools — some of the photos were of students with masks on, and some were of students not wearing masks,” district spokeswoman Barbara Jacoby told McClatchy News in a statement.
“We continue to strongly encourage and recommend that all students social distance and, when they cannot, that they wear masks,” she added, noting that the district has provided all students with two reusable face coverings.
There have already been issues, however.
A classroom at one of Cherokee County’s elementary schools had to be shut down for cleaning this week after a second-grader tested positive for COVID-19, according to the Cherokee Tribune & Ledger-News. The student’s teacher and 20 other students will move to virtual learning for the next two weeks while the classroom is disinfected, officials said.
“This is the first COVID-19 positive case reported among our students and staff since we reopened schools on Monday morning,” Jacoby told the newspaper. “Contact tracing was conducted, and all affected students’ parents have been notified.”
Concerns over the spread of coronavirus were just as apparent in Paulding County after a photo circulated online showed students walking down crowded hallways at North Paulding High School.
District Superintendent Dr. Brian Otott addressed the picture in a letter to parents, saying “there’s no question” the situation doesn’t look good, WSB-TV reported.
Otott fired back at critics, however, and said the photos had been taken out of context.
“Some individuals on social media are taking this photo and using it without context to criticize our school reopening efforts,” the superintendent added, according to the news station. “Under the COVID-19 protocols we have adopted, class changes that look like this may happen, especially at a high school with more than 2,000 students.”
Otott said students are “strongly encouraged” to wear face masks but aren’t required to, as there is “no practical way to enforce” a mask mandate, the letter read.
McClatchy News contacted the Paulding County School District for comment and is awaiting response.
The back-to-school photos come just days after Gwinnett County schools reported 260 of its employees would be excluded from work due to the coronavirus. The school district, the largest in the state, is set to begin online-only instruction on Aug. 12 but has required staff to come in for work.
As of Wednesday, the Georgia Department of Public Health reported more than 197,900 COVID-19 cases and over 3,900 deaths.
This story was originally published August 5, 2020 at 10:38 AM with the headline "Photos of maskless students, crowded halls put Georgia schools in the spotlight."