A high school in Georgia that shot to national attention this week after photos of the packed schoolgirls with maskless students went viral has announced that it is temporarily switching its lessons to online-only.
North Paulding High School confirmed six new cases among students and three infections of staff members, less than a week after returning to school.
On Sunday, Brian Otott, superintendent of Paulding County Schools, said the school would be closed Monday and lessons would be online.
In a letter to parents, Otott said Monday and Tuesday will be used to clean and disinfect the school.
North Paulding High School confirmed nine cases of COVID-19 this week, and will go online
Pictures shared earlier this week showed few students wearing masks going into the crowd
Brian Otott has announced that North Paulding High School will switch to online classes
Otherwise, Tuesday night will teach if person classes can resume later in the week.
“Hopefully, we can all agree that the health and safety of our students and staff currently takes precedence over all other considerations,” Otott said in his letter, which was received by Atlanta-Area news outlets.
One of the students who took the viral photos, Hannah Watters, 15, was initially suspended over posting the images.
The school later reversed its decision to suspend Watters.
Hannah Watters photographed the corridors
“This morning my school called and they removed my suspension,” Watters said.
‘To be 100 percent clear, I can go back to school on Monday. I could not have done this without all the support, thank you. ‘
Watters had earlier said the school told her she was suspended for violating the code of conduct by using a mobile phone and social media during school hours and granting students privacy by photographing her.
Following the publication of the photos, a whistleblower hotline was created by a local representative to make students and staff concerned about the safety measures being taken at their schools.
The 15-year-old tweeted Friday morning that her suspension had been reversed
Republic of the House in Georgia Beth Moore has called on students and staff to share their stories
Angie Franks told the Atlanta Journal Constitution that two of her cousins were among the six students to test positive at school this week.
One of the boys returned home Monday without smell of school and was immediately taken for testing.
His brother also started showing symptoms and they were confirmed with coronavirus on Wednesday.
They have since been quarantined at home, but Franks expressed her concerns about the other students who may have been exposed Monday.
The letter was sent by Principal Gabe Carmona to parents confirming the new cases
The school has confirmed many more cases since July 1 than any other in the neighborhood
“They sat in class all day without masks and not social distance,” Franks said. ‘And I have no idea how many children they came in contact with.’
She added that they were not encouraged to wear masks in classes and hallways, and that the boys did not understand the seriousness of the situation.
It comes as WSB TV Atlanta reports that the school has confirmed 23 coronavirus cases since July 1, far more than any other school in the neighborhood.
There have been 53 cases reported at Paulding County schools since July, but the majority have only one confirmed case.
Schools initially did not start teaching individuals until August 3rd.
In response to the viral images, Republic of Georgia State House Beth Moore on Friday set up an anonymous whistleblower email account for students, faculty and administrators to send photos, videos and testimonies of the situation at their schools.
She has since made several worrying claims that one school association board has tested positive for coronavirus and that at another school, teachers still need to be provided with protective and cleaning equipment.
Beth Moore, Georgia, shares combs a school board member has coronavirus
She has set up a whistleblower hotline and shares stories from teachers
One teacher claimed that the staff was not provided with the cleaning products needed
‘This tweet has only been for 1 hour and even though I have received a disturbing tip from a provincial school board member who tests positive, tells no one, and will go to a restaurant a few days later,’ she wrote in a tweet Friday .
“It’s the same failure of leadership at the state and federal levels.”
One teacher in Gwinnett claimed that teachers were forced into a personal meeting, where not everyone wore masks and those who visited social distance were told to get closer.
‘My main character is wonderful and I feel like she is being driven to do things she knew were not or good as,’ the teacher wrote.
Another teacher from the same neighborhood claimed that the school superintendent was almost in tears and teachers said they did not have enough cleaning to provide teachers for their classrooms.
“He said that if it is not delivered soon, he will leave because he does not want to feel responsible for people who get sick when God forbids – die,” she wrote.
She added that teachers were not told where to isolate students when they were confirmed to have coronavirus during school hours and that no additional supervisory staff had been hired to help with the extra cleaning.
Video shared on social media earlier this week showed the full halls
A series of photos show the bustling corridors at North Paulding High School
In the photos, which were taken Monday and Tuesday, less than half of the students showed masks.
There is no statewide mask mandate in the state of Georgia.
Watters told CNN she posted the photos because she was concerned about the safety of students and teachers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I was concerned for the safety of everyone in that building and for everyone in the province, because precautionary measures that the CDC and guidelines that the CDC has been telling us for months have not been followed,” Watters said.
She went on to say to missing John Lewis: ‘I want to say that this is some good and necessary problem.
‘My biggest concern is not only that I’m safe, it’s about everyone being safe, because behind every teacher, student and staff there is a family, there are friends, and I would just like to keep everyone safe.’
In the Cherokee County School District, staff and students at one school were forced to begin this other 14-day career this week after a second-grader tested positive after their first day back.
On Saturday, Georgia confirmed the death of a seven-year-old boy from coronavirus complications who did not have pre-existing conditions. He contracted the virus after attending church.
The state now has more than 216,600 cases and more than 4,199 deaths with a positivity rate of 11.92 percent.
More than 3,100 new cases were reported on Sunday, and 13 deaths were confirmed.
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