A high school in Georgia that rose to fame this week, after photos of crowded school hallways with unmasked students went viral, has announced it is taking classes online only.
North Paulding High School has confirmed six new cases among students and three infections of staff members, less than a week after school resumed.
On Sunday, Brian Otott, superintendent of schools for Paulding County, said the school would be closed on Monday and classes would be online.
In a letter to parents, Otott said Monday and Tuesday would be used to clean and disinfect the school.
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North Paulding High School has confirmed nine cases of COVID-19 this week and will go live
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Images shared earlier this week showed few students wearing masks in crowded hallways
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Brian Otott announced that North Paulding High School will switch to online classes
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Parents will learn Tuesday evening whether face-to-face classes can resume later in the week.
“I hope we can all agree that the health and safety of our students and staff takes precedence over any other consideration at this time,” Otott said in his letter, which was obtained by media from the Atlanta area.
One of the students who took the viral photos, Hannah Watters, 15, was initially suspended for posting the images.
The school then overturned its decision on Watters’ suspension.
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Hannah Watters photographed the hallways
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“This morning my school called and they lifted my suspension,” Watters said.
“To be 100% clear, I can go back to school on Monday. I couldn’t have done this without all the support, thank you.
Watters had said earlier that the school told her she was suspended for breaking the code of conduct by using a cell phone and social media during school hours and violating students’ privacy by photographing them .
Following the publication of the photos, an alert hotline was set up by a local representative to allow students and staff to voice concerns about the safety measures being taken at their schools.
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The 15-year-old tweeted on Friday morning that her suspension had been canceled
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Georgia House rep Beth Moore called on students and staff to share their stories
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Angie Franks told the Atlanta Journal Constitution that two of her nephews were among six students to test positive at school this week.
One of the boys came home from school on Monday with no smell and was immediately taken away for testing.
Her brother also started showing symptoms and they were confirmed with coronavirus on Wednesday.
They have since been quarantined at the home, but Franks has expressed concern about other students who may have been exposed on Monday.
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The letter sent by director Gabe Carmona to parents confirming the new cases
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The school has confirmed far more cases than any other in the district since July 1
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“They stayed in class all day without masks and without social distancing,” Franks said. “And I have no idea how many children they came into contact with.
She added that they had not been encouraged to wear masks in classrooms and hallways, and that the boys did not understand the gravity of the situation.
It comes as WSB TV Atlanta reports that the school has confirmed 23 cases of coronavirus since July 1, far more than any other school in the district.
There have been 53 cases reported since the start of July in schools in Paulding County, but the majority have only one confirmed case.
Schools didn’t start face-to-face classes until August 3.
In response to the viral images, Georgia State Representative Beth Moore on Friday set up an anonymous whistleblower email account to allow students, teachers and administrators to send photos, videos and testimonials of the situation in their schools.
She has since released several disturbing claims that one school county council has tested positive for coronavirus and that teachers at another school have yet to receive protective and cleaning gear.
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Georgia State Representative Beth Moore Shares Clams: School County Board Member Has Coronavirus
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She has set up a whistleblower hotline and shares teachers’ stories
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Teacher claimed staff did not receive necessary cleaning supplies
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“This tweet has only been going on for 1 hour and I have already received disturbing advice from a member of the county school board testing positive, not telling anyone, and going to a restaurant for lunch a few days later,” a- she wrote in a tweet Friday.
“It’s the same failure of leadership at the state level and the federal level.
A teacher from Gwinnett claimed teachers were forced into an in-person meeting, where not everyone wore masks and those trying to socially distance themselves were urged to come closer.
“My principal is wonderful and I feel like she’s driven to do things that she doesn’t know are right or doable either,” the teacher wrote.
Another teacher from the same district claimed that the school guard was almost in tears as he told teachers that they did not have enough cleaning supplies to give teachers for their classes.
“He said if he isn’t provided soon, he will leave because he doesn’t want to feel responsible for people getting sick or God forbid – to die,” they wrote.
They added that teachers had not been told where to isolate students if it was confirmed that they had coronavirus during school hours and that no additional on-call staff had been hired to. help with additional cleaning.
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A video shared on social media earlier this week showed the crowded hallways
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A series of photos showed the busy hallways of North Paulding High School
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In the photos, which were taken Monday and Tuesday, less than half of the students pictured are wearing masks.
There is no statewide mask warrant in the state of Georgia.
Watters told CNN she posted the photos because she was concerned for the safety of students and teachers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I was concerned for the safety of everyone in this building and everyone in the county because the precautions the CDC and the guidelines the CDC has been telling us for months now have not been followed,” Watters said.
She went on to refer to the late John Lewis saying, “I would like to say that this is a good and necessary problem.
“My biggest concern is not just that I am safe, but that everyone is safe because behind every teacher, student and staff member there is family, there are friends and I would like to just keep everyone safe. “
In the Cherokee County School District, staff and students at one school were forced to start another 14-day quarantine this week after a second-grader tested positive after his first day back.
Georgia confirmed the death of a seven-year-old boy from complications from a coronavirus on Saturday who had no pre-existing conditions. He contracted the virus after going to church.
The state now has more than 216,600 cases and more than 4,199 deaths with a positivity rate of 11.92%.
More than 3,100 new cases were confirmed on Sunday, and 13 deaths.
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