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August 10th, 2020 
Awake Goy 9 cases of COVID-19 reported at North Paulding High School
By Ty Tagami, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Paulding County high school that became infamous for hallways crowded with unmasked students reported a half-dozen students and three staffers in the school with COVID-19, the school district told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Saturday.
“At this time, we know there were six students and three staff members who were in school for at least some time last week who have since reported to us that they have tested positive,” says a letter from North Paulding High School Principal Gabe Carmona to parents Saturday. A spokesman for the Paulding County School District gave a copy of the letter to the AJC.
North Paulding High and its school district, which began the school year Monday, made national news this past week after images of the crowded hallways went viral after being posted to social media.
The school district suspended two students, including one who publicly acknowledged posting one of the photos. The punishment led to a national outcry from critics who said school leaders were trying to silence the students. After the pushback, the district relented and lifted the suspensions on Friday.
The letter to parents does not include information on whether any other students or staff who were exposed have to quarantine or whether any classrooms will be closed. “Our custodial staff continues to thoroughly clean and disinfect the school building daily, and especially affected areas,” the letter says.
Angie Franks said both her nephews who attend the school have tested positive for COVID-19. One came home from school Monday unable to smell, she said in an interview with the AJC. His mother took him for testing and the results the next day showed him positive, Franks said. By then, his brother was exhibiting symptoms and was also tested. His positive results were returned Wednesday.
The students are quarantining at home, but both went to school Monday. Franks said the boys’ father notified the school on Tuesday and Wednesday after getting their test results.
“They sat in class all day long with no masks and not social distancing,” Franks said. “And I have no idea how many kids they came into contact with.”
She said the boys didn’t grasp the gravity of the virus and weren’t encouraged to wear masks in classrooms or hallways by the school. Paulding County’s school system is not mandating masks for students and staff, though it is supplying them for teachers.
Concerns about Paulding’s plans for handling the coronavirus led one school nurse to resign from the district last month.
Amy Westmoreland told the AJC on Sunday that she left her job as the school nurse at W.C. Abney Elementary School because she felt the policies — including the absence of a mask mandate — put her at risk of catching and spreading the virus within the school.
“I would never be able to live with myself if I infected somebody,” Westmoreland said. “It didn’t seem safe at all.”
She was concerned that remaining in her job would put her nursing license at risk, in part because the district was not providing nurses with the typical personal protective equipment for COVID-19 used by hospitals, such as N95 masks. “This is basic respiratory hygiene, so I would not be in compliance with what I’m supposed to be doing as a nurse,” she said.
She said she knows families with children who have health conditions that raise their risk of consequences from infection; while the parents kept their high-risk children home to learn online, they sent siblings into the schools.
Channel 2 Action News reported there have been 53 cases of COVID-19, including 23 students reported in Paulding County schools since July 1.
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