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School system’s eclipse glasses recalled

Coweta County’s plan to provide students and staff with eclipse glasses was foiled by an Amazon recall.
Coweta County’s plan to provide students and staff with eclipse glasses was foiled by an Amazon recall.
By Steve Burns
Aug 16, 2017

A metro Atlanta school system has been impacted by the recent recall of some solar eclipse glasses sold on Amazon.

The Coweta County School System had purchased 24,000 pairs of glasses from the online retailer, spokesman Dean Jackson said Wednesday.

The system planned to let its employees and 22,600 students use the glasses to watch Monday’s eclipse, which should be at its peak in metro Atlanta about 2:30 p.m.

“The supplier contacted us to say that the glasses could not be verified,” Jackson said in an email statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “The orders were cancelled and our money was refunded. We were unable to locate substitutes.”

Despite the recall, the school system still plans eclipse viewing activities Monday, Jackson said. It is the first total solar eclipse to cross the country coast to coast in nearly 100 years.

“Some schools or classes may have eclipse glasses that they were able to procure separately,” he said. “Our intention was to provide them for all students and employees who wanted to observe the event directly that day.”

A letter to parents informing them of the recall went out Wednesday.

Amazon began emailing customers about the recall Saturday. The retailer decided to double-check the suppliers “out of an abundance of caution,” according to statement from Amazon.

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Steve Burns

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