Earlier this summer, most parents expressed relief over the prospect of their children returning to school next week. Now, many are conflicted and nervous.
They still want and need their kids back in classrooms. However, the surge of the highly transmissible delta variant in Georgia and the lack of mask mandates in many districts, including Fulton, Cobb, Forsyth and Cherokee, worries them.
Gwinnett announced Tuesday that it would require masks in response to the new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But other districts seem willing to not only ignore the CDC, but also the nation’s pediatricians who urge masking for all students and teachers regardless of vaccination status.
The decision by the state’s largest school district to require masks fueled thousands of pro and con comments on Gwinnett Schools social media. My favorite: “How about we just mask up and get over it? We don’t have to tear our community apart over this. I mean my grandparents survived the Great Depression and WWII. It’s a piece of cloth, not a tour of duty.”
It also led to questions such as this one from Fulton parent Kate Martin: “How do we get our superintendent to do the right thing and follow the science as Gwinnett has done?”
On parent forums across metro Atlanta, the same questions are being asked:
Can I request my child be assigned to a vaccinated teacher? You can always ask, although many principals rebel against parent requests for specific teachers. However, some parents are reporting that principals are willing to accommodate them if their family is at risk of serious complications from COVID.
Can I ask my children’s teachers if they are vaccinated? General consensus: You can ask, but they don’t have to tell you. One common suggestion is to announce gleefully to a teacher, “I am fully vaccinated,” and hope that invites them to say, “Me, too.” Another option: Be upfront with the teacher and explain that you are not comfortable with your child being around unvaccinated adults. You are worried about your child’s and family’s health and that is why you are asking.
At a Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health forum today, Robert Blendon, Richard L. Menschel Professor of Public Health, discussed a joint POLITICO-Harvard survey in which 63% of respondents said public schools should require K-12 teachers and staff to be vaccinated. However, at 50%, the support was not nearly as high to mandate vaccines before the children 12 and older eligible for the shots can attend public school in person.
The U.S. Department of Justice and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission have decreed vaccine mandates are legal. And mandates have been sustained in three significant court cases, including one that upheld Indiana University’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate and related face-masking and testing requirements.
Without a mask mandate in my district, can I now switch my child from face-to-face to online classes? If you want to switch, check immediately as class rosters and staffing have been set for both in-person and virtual classes in most districts, and it may be hard to change now. Parents are making the argument they made their choice before the delta variant was on the rise, so districts should reopen virtual registration.
Can principals require masks in their schools even if the district as a whole does not? Good thought, but highly unlikely. Despite the rhetoric about site-based control and principals knowing their communities best, districts pretty much run the show from the central office on big issues. And this is a big issue with political ramifications.
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