CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — Five Clayton County schools have shut down because of the coronavirus in the last two weeks.
Schools in other counties have had their issues with COVID-19 this year but nothing like what’s going on in Clayton County right now.
Channel 2′s Tyisha Fernandes spoke to several parents Monday who said one of their biggest concerns is the back and forth students are doing. One day they’re at school, then an outbreak brings them right back home in front of a computer.
Some parents believe it’s too much for young children.
“There’s only so much you can explain to a child. I feel like it is affecting them,” Parent Bria Cash said.
Cash said she feels bad for her young daughter and all kids who couldn’t learn the way they wanted to this year because of COVID-19.
When her daughter was able to actually go back to face-to-face learning, outbreaks sent her right back home. Cash told Fernandes she saw how it changed her this year.
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“School is about interacting with your friends, and teachers even you might not like them, but it’s just about that experience of being with other people and so to have to do that at home with the same people you see every day is like, ugh, kind of like makes them not interested in doing school
Most school districts have been able to keep their COVID-19 outbreaks under control. But in the last couple of weeks, Clayton County school officials had to shut down five schools.
So far, Mt. Zion Primary, Callaway, Harper and Morrow elementary schools, have closed. And now Sequoyah Middle is being added to the list.
Students will stay home and learn virtually until the last day of school, which is May 25.
“If they’re starting up and it’s not working, I applaud them for shutting it back down because they’re taking care of the kids first making sure they’re safe,” Parent Wayne Malden said.
Parents like Kim Messiah believe safety should be first as well. She said officials have to figure out a better plan for next year.
“If they’re going to open up the schools fully, what they need to do is make sure everything is correctly in place – the plexiglass, the disinfectant – everything has to be on it,” Messiah said.
Parents hope that officials do everything they can to make sure students have a more stable school year next year.
They suggest installing plexiglass in all the schools like those we see in many businesses now. It seems to be working in many places.
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