Four parents of medically fragile students in the Cobb County School District are appealing a federal judge’s denial of their request for an injunction over COVID-19 protocols, including the district’s lack of a mask mandate.
Attorneys with the Southern Poverty Law Center filed a notice of appeal on Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for Northern Georgia in Atlanta (you can read it here).
On Oct. 15, federal district judge Tim Batten denied their request for an injunction and a temporary restraining order. The parents wanted the court to order stronger COVID-19 measures in the schools, including mandatory masks, saying their children are unable to learn in-person as a result.
The plaintiffs’ attorneys have said the parents have removed their children from in-person learning, which “has had a negative effect on them socially, physically, and emotionally.”
The parents “further allege that unless and until the school board reimplements safety measures, they will be unable to attend school and will continue to suffer irreparable harm.”
The four parents, including Sara Cavorley of East Cobb (previous ECN story here), filed suit on Oct. 1, claiming that the Cobb school district’s policies are denying their children a proper in-person education under the federal Americans With Disabilities Act.
The SPLC issued a press release Wednesday saying that “this case isn’t just about masks, this is about disability discrimination in the Cobb County School District and ensuring that all children have an equal opportunity to access an in-person learning environment.”
Cobb schools have a masks-optional policy this year after mandating them for the 2020-21 school year.
But unlike last year, the 2021-22 school year does not provide virtual learning options that are identical to classroom instruction.
The Cobb school district is making a limited number of virtual options available for the spring semester via a lottery process (the deadline for applying for that has passed).
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Thank you for making masks optional. I’ve had 2 special needs children and if the parents want their children to wear masks, that is fine. But having reg Ed students wear a mask all the time is not good. Their bodies are not learning to fight other viruses and it’s not prudent to have the children not be able to breathe properly when they are learning.