COMMUNITY SURVEY
It’s back to school – with masks required amid differing views by CHRIS BURRITT and ANNETTE JOYCE NW GUILFORD – With the start of the new school year in just over a month, do you think school leaders should still require students, teachers and staff to wear masks? We asked students, parents, other residents and Guilford County school district leaders for their viewpoints on the question. Opinions differed as the debate is rising nationally along with the spread of COVID-19 cases, spurred by the highly contagious Delta variant. At present, masking in North Carolina’s schools and on school buses is required by Gov. Roy Cooper and the state Department of Health and Human Services. In mid-July the American Academy of Pediatrics updated its guidance for the upcoming school year, recommending that everyone two years and older wear masks, even if they’ve been fully vaccinated. That advice contradicts the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), which earlier this month relaxed its masking guidelines to say fully vaccinated teachers
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At present, masking in North Carolina’s schools and on school buses is required by Gov. Roy Cooper and the state Department of Health and Human Services, despite CDC advice that fully vaccinated teachers and students do not need to wear a mask. Guilford County Schools officials plan to follow the statewide mandate for masking in schools, according to Janson Silvers, a media spokesperson for the school district.
and students don’t need to wear masks. While Guilford County Schools officials “read the CDC’s new
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guidance with interest,” they’re following the statewide mandate for masking in schools, according to Janson Silvers, a media spokesperson for the school district. “If or when this changes, we will review our protocols and make adjustments as needed,” Silvers said. “In the meantime, we encourage all students and staff to get vaccinated prior to the start of the new school year.”
Other views: “As I consider the idea of attending school with a mask, I have all sorts of emotions, mostly
sad and frustrated. “I think of what we have gone through over the past year and a half, and I feel we deserve to have a normal school year that entails everything we love about high school, including seeing each other’s smiles in the hallway. This can’t be done if we are wearing masks. “I know I have taken the precaution of getting vaccinated, so that I can go to school normally. As I approach my senior year, I have only had one full year of (inperson) high school, and I do not
