As COVID cases rise, Cobb parents want schools to require masks

Not requiring masks, some parents say, could lead to a spike in COVID-19 cases in schools and in the county. Georgia is among the states with the lowest vaccination rates in the country, which health officials say is contributing to the rise in coronavirus cases. The highly contagious delta variant is also a factor.

As of Wednesday, Cobb County’s two-week case number per 100,000 was 243, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health. Two weeks ago that number was 76.

Becky Sayler, who has three children enrolled at Nickajack Elementary School near Smyrna, said she is concerned because children under 12 can’t get vaccinated. Sayler wants district leadership to follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance that recommends mask wearing in schools.

She also said she’s unable to select virtual learning because the deadline to enroll has passed and that her children would have to drop out of Nickajack’s dual language immersion program because it’s not taught online.

“Some parents are tired of masks and I do understand that, but I think it’s a necessary sacrifice we have to make,” she said.

More than two dozen Cobb County parents emailed The Atlanta Journal-Constitution expressing concerns about the district’s mask policy. Cobb and Marietta City Schools are the only districts in metro Atlanta that have made masks optional for students and staff.

State Rep. Erick Allen on Tuesday sent a letter to Superintendent Chris Ragsdale, asking why the district did not re-open virtual learning enrollment when it announced masks would be optional when school starts.

Ragsdale told Allen Tuesday that “providing teaching and educational support in a virtual environment is a significant undertaking, one requiring months of planning, budgeting, and hiring.”

“Given the school year has already begun, making significant and abrupt changes in online learning options at this point would likely (and negatively) impact virtually all Cobb students and teachers,” the superintendent said.

Giving students and teachers a choice is the best route to go, East Cobb parent Caryn Sonderman told the AJC. Sonderman said it’s time for schools and society “to get back to a normal setting” and educators she’s talked to want to get back to teaching without masks or other restrictions.

“They want freedom to do what’s best for their own health, and parents want freedom to choose what is best for their own child’s heath,” she said.

Marietta City Schools parent Tim Heeden said he hoped that district would make masks mandatory when classes started Tuesday. The system last year participated in a CDC case study that examined COVID-19 cases in schools, which showed the coronavirus was primarily spread by teacher-to-teacher contact and winter sporting events.

Heeden, whose son is a freshman at Marietta High School, said the district appears to be relying on that data to keep masks optional for students and staff.

“I get where they have confidence from that, but it appears by all measures that the delta variant has upset that balance,” Heeden said.

Marietta City Schools Superintendent Grant Rivera said he’s received 80 to 100 emails from parents who would prefer a mask requirement. He tells each parent that information from the CDC study shows student-to-student transmission was lower in schools.

“While it is not a direct correlation, it was informative as we approached the opening of this school year,” he said.