An East Cobb woman who has four children in public schools said the Cobb County School District’s student mask mandate should be dropped after teachers get vaccinated.
Amy Henry, who has two children at Walton High School and two others in grade school, said at a Cobb Board of Education work session Thursday that “we’re putting on a show and denying our children in the process” by requiring students who attend classes in person to wear masks at all times.
“They need to have a normal childhood,” Henry said. “We’re teaching them that they’re dirty. We’re creating a fearful environment that for these kids cannot be normal.”
While several school districts in metro Atlanta make masks optional for students, Cobb is among those that requires mask-wearing for students, teachers and staff on campuses.
Henry said “there’s no data that says kids are spreading” the COVID-19 virus.
COVID-19 case rates in the Cobb school district have been steadily dropping in recent weeks, but the district does not break down those figures between students and staff.
Teachers in the Cobb school district are eligible to get vaccinated through Cobb and Douglas Public Health. Optional vaccinations took place on Wednesday and more are scheduled for next week and two dates in April.
Cobb school superintendent Chris Ragsdale initially planned to “encourage” but not require mask use at the start of the school year. But after ordering schools to start all-online, Ragsdale said masks would be required when students returned to campus in October.
They have been mandatory ever since, although efforts by Cobb school board members Charisse Davis and Jaha Howard to make them part of the student dress code were unsuccessful.
Henry was a leader of a group called “Let Parents Choose” that advocated for in-person schooling. After the all-virtual decision was made, she enrolled her younger children in private schools, and they now attend Sope Creek Elementary School.
She told East Cobb News in an August interview that she initially supported measures such as mask-wearing, “but at some point we have to ask what kind of damage we’re doing to kids in the long run.”
On Thursday, Henry told board members she still hasn’t been able to visit her kindergartener’s classroom due to COVID-19 restrictions.
This is a virus, she said, “with a 99.97 percent survival rate.” She suggested that those parents and students who have concerns over the virus can choose the virtual option.
Board members don’t respond to public commenters. Later in the work session, Ragsdale said no decision had been made about whether masks will be required for next year.
He was asked by Davis during a discussion about virtual learning options. Ragsdale said the Cobb school district will “continue to follow the guidance” of Cobb and Douglas Public Health.
“At this point in time, we’re not able to say either way,” he said.
For the spring semester, around 66 percent of the Cobb County School District’s 107,000 students chose in-person learning.
In January, after the deaths of three teachers due to COVID-19, several teachers and parents pleaded with the Cobb school district to return to all-virtual. They also scolded Ragsdale and board members David Banks and David Chastain of East Cobb for not wearing masks.
Another parent who spoke at Thursday’s work session, John Hanson, told board members that students “should have a choice to wear a mask just like everyone in this room has a choice.”
Related stories
- Cobb school district to hold virtual hiring fair
- Cobb schools report 32 confirmed new cases of COVID-19
- Cobb schools make calendar changes for staff vaccines
- 106 new Cobb schools COVID cases is lowest since November
- Cobb schools cancel contract for disinfecting UV lights
- East Cobb teachers named NASA Astronomy Ambassadors
- Cobb schools detail teachers, staff about COVID vaccines
- Cobb schools Code Red alert investigated as cyber attack
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
