The widely circulated photo from North Paulding High School in Dallas, Ga., showed students crowded into a packed hallway on their first day back to classes since the coronavirus outbreak shuttered schools in the spring. Few were wearing masks, and there was little sign of social distancing. Then on Day 2, there was another.
The photos, which were shared on social media and cited in news reports, have quickly come to symbolize a chaotic first week back in U.S. classrooms. Schools in states where students have returned, including Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee and Indiana, have had to initiate quarantines and in some cases shut down classrooms and entire schools temporarily after positive cases emerged.
A 15-year-old student at North Paulding, Hannah Watters, was initially suspended for five days for posting images of the crowded hallways on Twitter, according to her mother, Lynne Watters, who said she filed a grievance with the school on Thursday.
By Friday, Hannah said, her suspension had been lifted and wiped from her record, with the school’s principal calling her mother to tell her that she could return to class on Monday.
ManOfLaBook on August 7th, 2020 at 16:16 UTC »
Not only that, but they got the superintendent to go on record saying " Wearing a mask is a personal choice, and there is no practical way to enforce a mandate to wear them."
No more being sent home for inappropriate clothes / hair cuts in the district.
vashthestampede121 on August 7th, 2020 at 15:33 UTC »
Alternative headline: School officials realize suspending student for exposing lax social distancing makes them look worse, not like heroes
ramza_3e5 on August 7th, 2020 at 15:20 UTC »
Not sure I'd want to go back, given the photos.