A small group of parents and two school board members asked for face masks to be required in Oak Ridge Schools, but no decision was made during a school board meeting Monday evening.
Some students are too young to get vaccinated, the parents and school board members said. Others have only had one COVID-19 vaccination shot and aren’t fully vaccinated. Four days into the new school year, parent Gretchen Toney said her daughter has already been exposed to COVID-19 at Robertsville Middle School and sent home to quarantine, potentially exposing her four-year-old son at home and continuing to prevent a visit by her father, who has cancer.
Parent Laetitia Delmau said her children at RMS and Oak Ridge High School are getting non-stop comments because they wear masks for their own protection, and the schools should be free of harassment and bullying.
Citing reports from their children and their own personal observations, parents said few people are wearing masks in Oak Ridge Schools.
The parents asked the school system to follow the guidance of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which recommended on Tuesday that everyone should wear a mask indoors in K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination status. The American Academy of Pediatrics has also recommended universal masking in schools this fall, and on Monday, the University of Tennessee announced it will require masks in many indoor settings this fall semester.
“I really request that we follow the CDC guidelines,” Toney said.
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