Another Cherokee County high school is suspending in-person classes after more than a dozen students have tested positive for COVID-19 and hundreds more have been put under quarantine.
Woodstock High School became the second one in the county to move to online learning following Etowah High School’s announcement Tuesday it will temporarily close. Cherokee County opened its six high schools last week without requiring students to wear masks.
“The closing of Etowah HS on Tuesday followed by the closing on Woodstock HS today are necessary precautions as we work to continue in-person learning in our other 38 schools and centers,” spokeswoman Barbara Jacoby said in an email. “We anticipate, as we have communicated throughout this process, there will be additional quarantines and school closures as we operate during this pandemic.”
With more than 1,400 students and employees quarantined as of Wednesday evening, Cherokee County has been at the center of the national conversation about safe school reopenings as the coronavirus continues to spread in Georgia.
Woodstock High School has 2,100 students, but only about 1,500 of them started the school year in-person with the others taking online classes. Fourteen students or employees have tested positive for COVID-19. Tests are pending for 15 more, and 289 students and staff were quarantined Tuesday due to potential exposure.
Scott Quitadamo’s is the father of twin freshmen who started this year at Woodstock with virtual classes. His son didn’t mind studying online, but his daughter did not care for it, he said.
“She’s 14, a freshman going into her first year of high school,” he said. “So she was one step short of apoplectic on the whole thing. She was just not happy at all about not going to school. It’s the whole first day, her friends, there are lots of things that she was missing out on, and I got that.”
The family compromised and decided to start the year online and see how it went. Quitadamo thinks they made the right choice — even if they had chosen going to the schoolhouse, his children would have been learning remotely after just over a week of class.
A July Cherokee County school board meeting foreshadowed the tension between pro- and anti-mask factions among families that continued to play out this week in campus protests. The board unanimously approved a reopening plan that did not include mandatory masks for students, over the objections of several teachers and parents.
Gov. Brian Kemp has said he will not impose a statewide mask requirement. School districts are allowed to require masks as part of their dress codes, State Superintendent Richard Woods said.
On Wednesday, the Georgia Department of Public Health reported 105 new confirmed deaths from COVID-19, the second day of more than 100 deaths. The White House Coronavirus Task force in July identified Georgia as a “red zone” for coronavirus cases.
Cherokee schools opened earlier than most districts in the state and now that others have students returning to class reports of COVID-19 cases are coming from the Augusta and Savannah area and other parts of Georgia.
Many Cherokee County families do not believe the medical evidence that masks help prevent the spread of COVID-19, said school board member Kyla Cromer.
“I’ve been asked a number of times why masks weren’t mandated in the school reopening plan recommended by the Superintendent and unanimously approved by the School Board,” Cromer wrote in a Facebook post after the second closing was announced. “As your elected School Board Chair, I wear a mask whenever I leave my house. Our Superintendent has shared he wears a mask whenever he cannot maintain social distancing. Many of our families do not believe the scientific research that indicates mask usage is valuable. I do believe the research and believe it’s (an) important factor in keeping our schools open. I expect mask usage from those around me.”
COVID-19 continues to strain school districts across the state.
Paulding County Schools administrators have announced a new re-reopening plan for North Paulding High School, which gained national media attention during its early reopening after a student shared photos of a crowded hallway filled with mostly maskless students.
North Paulding High School has had 35 confirmed cases of COVID-19, according to a letter sent to parents Wednesday.
“Obviously, the rate of COVID-19 spread is a concern that will require us to adapt our plan for in-person instruction to protect the health and safety of our students and staff,” the letter reads.
The school shut its doors Monday and students were expected to study online. That will continue through the rest of this week. Starting Monday, students who selected face-to-face learning will switch to a hybrid schedule of in-person and online classes.
The Columbia County School District, which typically does not hold class during the Masters Tournament, announced the week of the golf tournament will be a regular school week this year. Earlier in the day, the Masters organizers announced the 2020 tournament will go forward the week of Nov. 9 without an audience due to concerns about COVID-19.
Columbia County Schools reported 24 students and 13 employees have tested positive for COVID-19, and 131 students have been exposed to the virus and school officials say 17 of those students were exposed at school, according to WRDW in Augusta.
