North Gwinnett News

Now that children are starting to return to school and coronavirus cases are once again on the rise, parents and school districts find themselves clashing over restrictions and mandates once again. 

After Gwinnett County Public Schools Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks announced on July 27 that masks would be mandatory when students return to the classroom, a group of parents protested the policy in front of the J. Alvin Wilbanks Instructional Support Center on July 30 .

“There are so many reasons why we shouldn’t be mandating masks for children,” Emily Fields, a mother of five in the district, told WSB-TV.  “It’s not just the masks. It’s the principle behind wearing the mask, honestly.”

Announcing the new mandate on its website, the district said it took into account current conditions, the rise in COVID-19 case rates in Gwinnett County and the ineligibility of children age 12 and younger for the vaccine. 

On the site, Wilbanks affirmed that the district would follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s recommendations. “The facts and recommendations are clear … masks do make a difference and we must do all we can to keep students in school, in person,” he said.

The district's announcement came as the CDC in Atlanta issued new guidance recommending fully vaccinated people to wear a mask in public indoor settings in areas of substantial or high transmission. The directive came as COVID-19 cases linked to the highly transmissible Delta variant increased across the country.

Gwinnett County has seen 144% increase in COVID-19 cases over the last 14 days with an average of 162 new cases per day reported, according to The New York Times.

This is Wilbanks' last month as superintendent in Gwinnett County. The district board unanimously approved Dr. Calvin J. Watts as the next superintendent of the district on Friday – the same day as the “Unmask Our Children” protest.