Just days after unveiling Habersham County Schools’ Reopening Plan, superintendent Matthew Cooper adamantly defended two key components of the plan – masks and virtual school.
Under the current reopening plan, which Cooper calls a “living document” subject to change, students and staff will not be required to wear masks when they return to school on August 21. Also, those students whose parents opt for online school will be enrolled in a brand new school called Habersham Technology Academy. The system is creating the academy with the Georgia Department of Education. Students who enroll will no longer be enrolled in their existing school and will not be allowed to participate in extracurricular activities or sports.
Cooper spent much of the school board’s near hour-and-a-half-long meeting Monday night explaining those decisions to parents and board members.
No mask mandate
“Without a mandate from the Georgia Department of Public Health or governor’s office, it’s very difficult if not impossible for this system to mandate face coverings,” Cooper said, responding to concerns raised by some parents and board member John Elger.
Elger, who spoke passionately about the need for face coverings during last week’s board of education work session, expressed his concern that politics has interfered with a common-sense public health decision.
“I’ve watched it day after day, week after week,” he said on July 16. “It started out with some mask wearing then it dwindled and then at some levels of government, well above our local government, it was made apparently a show of manliness or something that ‘I’m not going to wear a mask because I have the liberty not to.’ And that is correct, that is correct, you have that liberty from a legal standpoint. From a moral standpoint, we have no such liberty.”
That message finally seemed to resonate even in the highest office in the land Monday when President Donald Trump tweeted a photo of himself wearing a mask.
Cooper did not specifically address President Trump nor Gov. Brian Kemp’s political opposition to mask mandates. Still, he did say he would do “everything I can” to keep politics out of the discussion on masks in county schools. “If following the guidance of our governor and the Georgia Department of Public Health and others is political, I didn’t know. I sure didn’t see it that way,” Cooper said.
He did acknowledge that social distancing in schools “will be very difficult” in many cases.
As it now stands, the Habersham County School System will make face coverings available, but it will not require staff and students to wear them. Elger disagrees with that approach. “I think as a school system, we have to model for the community the best that we can be, not simply what can we get away with.”
Some parents, such as Chelsea Blackburn, agree. “As much [as] I want my children in school, I will be choosing online for both my Kindergartener and 6th grader. Not making masks mandatory was the final straw for me,” Blackburn says in a post on Now Habersham’s Facebook page. “This places students, faculty, and their families at risk.” Other parents, such as Melissa Sanders, say they’ll send their children to school with masks saying their kids “need the structure” of going to school.
Is virtual school punitive?
Habersham School administrators continue to stress the importance of structure and socialization as key factors in their decision to reopen schools. They cite the mental and physical health benefits of attending school in person, relying on data from the American Academy of Pediatrics. And while the school system is offering an online option, some parents say they feel pushed into returning their children to the classroom.
“The way Matthew Cooper presented and talked about the virtual/online option and the way that these phone calls from principals are sounding, the online option isn’t a great choice for students,” says Destiny Holland. “It’s appearing to be the illusion of choice. You can either send your kid back to school where lice gets spread within a day of exposure but we’re expecting that it won’t be the case for Covid-19, or have your kid do online school where they won’t even be considered a student at the school they’re supposed to be at with the teachers from that school teaching them through it. This whole situation just seems insane to me.”
“Honestly, there is no option, but with fear, I will send them,” says Maureen Irmarie who has a child with autism and ADHD. “The only thing that worries me is that when there was no COVID, the parents sent their children sick to school…what can change now, that they do not send their sick children?”
Other parents express no reservations about their children returning to the classroom, saying their kids – and they – are ready. “Mine will go and are counting down the days,” says Stephanie Tench-Anderson whose son is already back at band practice where members are required to wear a mask when they’re not playing.
Cooper said he has heard from a “few” parents who expressed concerns about the virtual school option, mostly, about students not being allowed to participate in sports and extracurricular activities.
“I understand why some may perceive it as being punitive. it’s not our intention.”
Monday night, Cooper tried to explain the decision saying, “If we allowed students to participate in athletics while enrolled in a school that doesn’t offer athletics, that would be a major problem with GHSA (Georgia High School Association).” [GHSA is the governing body for athletics and activities of member high schools in Georgia].
Cooper also said he has reservations about parents choosing the virtual school option for their students due to a safety concern, then allowing them to be around others in an extracurricular setting. “The school system allowing that to happen would place us in a difficult position when the parent has already taken official steps to notify the school of their safety concerns.”
Cooper asked parents to “be patient” because school principals still don’t have all the answers about virtual school. He says much remains to be determined.
“I know that some parents have a lot of questions, but I think the real question that parents must answer is, ‘Do I feel safe with my student or students being around other students and adults?”
The number of parents requesting the virtual option on Monday was “far fewer” than school officials expected. And even though the Habersham Technology Academy is not fully established and many questions remain, parents only have until noon on July 29 to make their decision.
“It’s the parents’ choice and we will respect that choice and work with them the best we can,” the superintendent said, adding, “I don’t like this. It’s unfortunate that parents are having to make these tough choices.”
Referring to the reopening plan as a “general plan,” Cooper said it can not and “does not” address the specifics of every situation. Many of the details must be worked out at the school level. If a parent has specific questions that are not addressed in the plan, they should contact their child’s school principal.
It’s been four months since students last stepped foot in a classroom in Habersham County. By the time schools reopen in August, another month will have passed. Superintendent Cooper is passionate about getting students back into the classroom but says the system can still put the brakes on its reopening plan if needed. “I will not send our students back to school if I have official information that says we have significant spread in this community. I won’t do that.”
