Dear Mr. Ragsdale,

Hope this note finds you keeping well and safe. We write to you as representatives of teachers and Paraprofessionals of Cobb County School. We are reaching out with our comments and concerns regarding the evolving COVID-19 situation across the country, and specifically in Georgia, with the currently announced preparations and plans for reopening the schools in Cobb County.

At the present time, we want to understand the administration proposals to mitigate the potential further spread of COVID-19, the invisible enemy. We have heard that other states and counties have proposed various options to keep it as safe for the community as possible.

In light of this, we request you to consider  Making masks mandatory for k-12.  

The current proposal of Cobb county has called upon teachers to make sacrifices. Under these extenuating global pandemic circumstances, it will be very helpful if you would consider our sincere suggestions, as a balance between academic advancement and safety. There are many scenarios we as a group have discussed and considered prior to sending you this note

1. Increased risk of infection with large number of students in the classroom (probably many without masks).
2. Increased risk of infection with sharing bus with middle and high school students.
3. Teachers, students and staff essentially being carriers of the virus on an everyday basis.
4. Many of the teachers/staff/family members have health issues and would be putting the community at risk.
5. Sharing bathrooms, music rooms, gym, media centers by potentially 1000+ people each day will increase risk of spread. The issue is further complicated when one considers the lack of ventilation system in school buildings.
6. Hybrid model would have allowed reduced the class size and would have prepared all students to learn online. It would have also allowed us to modify resources for students who cannot access digital resources at home.
7. In a shutdown scenario (if the cases go up), schools may choose to close again requiring all of us to go online.

 We as teachers feel that our voice needs to be heard as we are the ones in the class serving the students on an everyday basis. We are happy to work as a team to help form and implement the guidelines in these obviously difficult times.

Thank you very much in advance

Regards,

CCSD Teachers and staff