“I find it very heartbreaking, and it was obviously some kind of validation, but it was not the validation I necessarily wanted to see,” Amy Westmoreland told CNN on Monday.
When Paul Board County School Board came out with facilities for rehearsals, masks were optional, and Westmoreland decided they had to make a choice, she told CNN Saturday.
“I love these kids, I love my job,” she said, “but I love them enough to take a stand.”
National response to the photo and criticism of the scene it captured by Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, will hopefully motivate decision-makers to introduce more safety measures, Westmoreland said.
The aunt of two students at the school who positively test criticized school officials for starting in-person learning too quickly and without adequate precautionary measures.
“I think a lot of parents trusted the school system that they would have a plan in place, and apparently they did not,” Angie Franks told CNN on Monday.
However, staff and students are afraid to speak out, Westmoreland said.
“There are consequences if they do,” she said.
Watters believes the anger of students comes from rumors that she is trying to take away her senior year – with prom, graduation and other significant moments – but she never wanted that, she said. She just wants the school to be safer so it can stay open, she said.
Everyone needs to work together to stay safe and achieve the common goal of opening backups, Franks said.
“Just put on a mask, wear a mask and let’s work together and get rid of it,” she said. “We all want normalcy, and we will not get it if we do not help ourselves.
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