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Keep Your Mask On
KEMP’S ORDERS, AND MORE LOCAL NEWS
By Blake Aued news@flagpole.com
People in Athens are still required to wear
a mask inside businesses and other public
places despite Gov. Brian Kemp’s order
overturning local laws mandating face cov
erings, Mayor Kelly Girtz said last week.
“We still have a local ordinance in place,
and we are not going to rescind it,” Girtz
said.
Kemp renewed an executive order July
15 keeping pandemic-related restrictions
on restaurants and other businesses in
place for at least another two weeks. He
did not issue a statewide mask mandate, as
many health care workers had called on him
to do, and also specifically prohibited cities
and counties from enacting or enforcing
mask ordinances like the one the Athens-
Clarke County Commission passed earlier
this month. Kemp’s office sued the City of
Atlanta on July 16 seeking to block its mask
ordinance.
Since the law took effect July 9, ACC
hasn’t issued any fines for violating it, Girtz
said. Instead, police and code enforcement
officers are carrying masks with them to
hand out to violators. Girtz said officers
will continue to educate people and seek
voluntary compliance rather than hand out
tickets.
Girtz said he’s spoken to ACC attorneys,
as well as other Georgia mayors, about local
mask mandates, and is confident they’ll
hold up in court. “We believe we have every
right to do that as local governments,” he
said.
He said he’s “frustrated” with Kemp’s “ad
hoc” approach to the COVID-19 pandemic,
and that health outcomes should be driving
policy. “Instead, it’s been like pulling a rab
bit out of a hat,” he said.
Savannah Mayor Van Johnson was more
blunt, tweeting: “Governor Kemp doesn’t
give a damn about us.” Savannah was the
first city in Georgia to pass a mask ordi
nance, preceding Athens’ by a week. Others
quickly followed suit.
On the same day that Kemp took aim
at local mask ordinances, Alabama Gov.
Kay Ivey issued a statewide order requiring
masks in indoor public places. At least 25
states have some type of mask law—includ
ing several, like Ohio and Texas, that are
run by Republicans—and in many states
that don’t, cities and counties have issued
their own requirements. Kemp is the only
governor who’s banned local COVID-19
regulations.
In addition, several major retail chains—
including Walmart, Kroger, Target and
CVS—have announced in recent days that
they’ll start requiring masks inside their
stores. Many smaller retailers also asked
Girtz to pass the local mask ordinance to
level the playing field among small busi
nesses, the mayor said. “They’re concerned
for the health of their employees,” as well as
about liability issues, he said.
Until last week, the state Department
of Public Health advised school districts
not to reopen if their community had over
100 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents.
Clarke County, with more than 800 cases
per 100,000 people, is firmly within that
“red zone.” But DPH recently rescinded that
guidance.
“I think the reason they did that is our
whole state is in the red zone right now,”
Amy Roark, director of nursing for the
Clarke County School District, told school
board members last week.
With COVID-19 cases spiking in Athens
and all over the state, officials face some
tough decisions. Is it safe to bring back
14,000 students and 2,400 employees for
in-person instruction in the middle of a
pandemic? Do the benefits outweigh the
risks?
The Clarke County Board of Education
voted to move the start of the school year
back more than a month, to the Tuesday
after Labor Day. Delaying the first day
of school will give teachers more time to
prepare for the possibility of shifting to
distance learning in case it’s unsafe for stu
dents to return to class in person this fall,
Chief Academic Officer Brannon Gaskins
said.
Almost 60% of more than 3,600 parents
and teachers who responded to a survey
said they preferred Sept. 8 over Aug. 3 or
Aug. 17. But that survey wasn’t represen
tative of the whole district—some schools
had more participation than others, and few
people filled out a paper survey, indicating
that those without internet access were not
fully included. “Although there was an over
whelming choice for Sept. 8, we acknowl
edge that some communities did not
participate in that decision,” Gaskins said.
Currently, CCSD plans to offer parents
the option of in-person or distance learn
ing. A later start date gives parents more
time to choose an instructional model. “We
don’t want them to feel rushed in making
that selection,” Gaskins said.
If the pandemic doesn’t improve, high
schools and eighth-graders may start the
year at home. “We are ready to have that
serious conversation with our principals
tomorrow,” Gaskins said.
Elementary school students will stay
in the same class all day, reducing their
exposure to coronavirus, but high school
students don’t. And because elementary
school classes are more isolated, a COVID
case would just require quarantining one
class. A COVID case at a middle or high
school might mean shutting down the
whole school.
“It’s going to be very hard to prevent
teenagers from intermingling and switching
classes and exposing others in the hall
ways,” Roark said. “That seems logistically
unsafe at this point to me.”
If middle and high school students
are learning at home, elementary school
students could use those buildings, giving
them more room to spread out. Chief of
Operations Dexter Fisher said his team
measured classrooms, and there is space
for 12-15 students to stay eight feet apart.
Putting elementary school classes in middle
and high school classrooms would further
reduce class sizes.
One concern about distance learning,
though, is internet access. Gaskins said the
district has eight “community hot spots”
that can be placed on school buses and
parked in neighborhoods to provide wi-fi,
and is planning on buying more. The school
board also recently approved the purchase
of digital devices for all kindergarten, first
and second grade students. Students in
other grades still have the devices they were
issued last year.
As for school buses, Fisher said they
will be filled two per seat, or 48 total pas
sengers. All riders will be required to wear
masks, and masks will be provided if some
one forgets theirs.
Once parents decide on in-person or
distance learning and the district knows the
numbers, teachers will be assigned to class
room or virtual teaching. “Model teachers”
and instructional coaches hand-picked by
principals—’’the best of our best,” Gaskins
said—will create online lessons for each
school based on district and state curricu-
lums, and will receive an additional stipend.
Board President LaKeisha Gantt, a psy
chologist, raised the issue of mental health
for distance learners. Problems might be
hard to recognize online, she said. Gaskins
said that staff should take courses on
trauma “so we have an eagle eye on not only
some students who are suffering from men
tal illness or struggles, but that some staff
are suffering.”
Despite the later start date, the school
year will still end May 20. Some holidays
and parent-teacher conference days will
be eliminated, but students will still only
receive 155 days of instruction, as opposed
to 176 if school were to start Aug. 3 as
originally planned. However, 15-20 instruc
tional days could be restored if the state
receives a waiver on standardized testing.
Under the approved calendar, spring
break will be Apr. 2-9. CCSD’s spring break
has traditionally coincided with UGA’s in
early to mid-March so that parents who
work at the city’s largest employer can
stay home with their children or schedule
vacations. But two-thirds of those surveyed
wanted a later spring break this year.
Board member Patricia Yager pushed to
eliminate more vacation days to provide
more instruction, especially for high-school
students whose first semester will be bro
ken up by winter break thanks to the new
block schedule, and some of whom will be
taking AP classes in an abbreviated time
period. “Nobody is visiting Grandma on
Thanksgiving when we’re in the middle of a
pandemic,” Yaeger said.
The board decided to give administra
tors the authority to adjust the calendar
as needed. The vote was 8-1, with Antwon
Stephens voting no.
For the second meeting in a row, Gaskins
was filling in for interim Superintendent
Xernona Thomas. Last week, Thomas
revealed that she had been hospitalized
with COVID-19.
“As I can attest, the health and safety
of our staff and students is paramount,”
Thomas said in a written statement. “My
own experience has helped the team rec
ognize the challenges that accompany
the pandemic. We will continue to work
together to provide the best instruction and
support to our students, faculty and staff.”
Athens Transit started charging bus
riders again July 15 after suspending fares
during the pandemic.
Riders had been boarding at the rear
doors since March in an effort to prevent
the spread of coronavirus between drivers
and passengers. Now, they’re boarding
at the front again, with a plastic shield
between the driver and the farebox. Masks
are required on the bus, and reusable cloth
masks are available while supplies last for
those who don’t have one of their own.
The fare is $1.75 for most adults. Buses
accept cash, but no change is given. Single-
and multi-ride passes are available at the
Multimodal Transportation Center and
through the Token Transit smartphone app.
Twenty-two-ride passes are $31.
Youth 18 and under, senior citizens 65
and older, the disabled, ACC employees, and
UGA students, faculty and staff (with UGA
cards) can continue to ride for free. Starting
Jan. 1, night and weekend buses will be free
for everyone. ©
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4
FLAGPOLE.COM | JULY 22, 2020
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