Henry County school board adds mask requirement amid passionate debate among parents

HENRY COUNTY, Ga. - Henry County School District is now the latest in the metro Atlanta area to require kids to wear masks.

The decision was made by the Board of Education at a meeting on Monday afternoon.

Parents in support of a classroom mask mandate say the change was long overdue, amid spiking cases in the county and throughout the region. According to the New York Times, within the last two weeks, reports of COVID-19 cases in Henry County have spiked 75 percent. 

"The numbers are going up so high, it’s just best to have all kids protected," said Stacey Hampton.

Meanwhile, parents opposed to the mandate were furious.

"It’s really not the school‘s responsibility to be making the decision for the health of the kids," said Garrett Holt, whose 13-year-old son attends a Henry County School. "I mean, that’s the parents' responsibility."

According to the Associated Press, the county joins 42.6% of schools throughout Georgia to require masks, which amounts to at least 734,000 students.

"As a parent, I feel like my choices have been taken away by the school system," said Holt.

He and other parents opposed to the mandate were upset that the board made the decision without input from the public.

A district staffer did not allow FOX 5 into a later meeting Thursday evening, claiming the room was at capacity.

More than 1,900 people signed an online petition to get Henry County schools to mandate masks. 

Hampton, a mother of two kids that attend Henry County schools, said she has seen the horrors of coronavirus up close. 

"I have a niece. Right now, she’s in the hospital with Covid and I was just on FaceTime with her," Hampton said. "It’s not pretty at all."

Current guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention state that students should wear masks and stay at least 3 feet apart while indoors. 

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