Brantley County Schools will not require Masks or Vaccines
Superintendent Morgan offered a statement this evening regarding the CDC’s updated mask guidance
Nahunta, GA
On Tuesday the CDC issued updated guidance regarding masks for individuals regardless of their vaccination status. You may remember the most recent guidance that came only in May, finally allowing those who have been vaccinated to ditch their masks- or so we thought.
This new CDC announcement comes as the Biden Administration has been discussing what strict measures, if any can be enforced for the un-vaccinated in recent days and weeks. The guidance calls for all students in K-12 schools to wear masks regardless of whether or not they have received a vaccine.
In Brantley county alone in the last week, there has been an average of 4 new cases of COVID-19 per day. As of today, only 17.85% of Brantley County residents are fully vaccinated compared to Glynn County’s 40%. With these numbers and the increasing prevalence of the Delta Variant, and the updated CDC guidance, we reached out to school Superintendent Dr. Kim Morgan for comment on Brantley County Schools response and what she wants parents and students to know.
According to Dr. Morgan, “safety measures for Brantley County Schools will continue to be fluid depending on the number of cases in our county, and in some cases depending on the number of cases affecting a particular school. And of course, in accordance with GADPH and GADOE guidance.”
We asked Dr. Morgan three questions that have been floating around the community:
Will Brantley County Schools require students to receive any COVID-19 vaccines?
Will masks be required of students attending Brantley County Schools?
Is there anything you would like parents and students to know regarding the safeguards in place to protect the health of not only the community but our students?
In her response, the superintendent answered plainly. “No." “Brantley County will not be requiring vaccines and masks are certainly welcome, but not required.”
“As of now”, she said, “We are planning to keep most of the precautions taken last year. Our staff’s extra efforts to disinfect regularly, social distance when possible, and parents supporting us by keeping children home when sick is what has and will allow us to continue having school.”
The Brantley County Board of Education released a “Welcome Back Plan” for the 2021-2022 School year. The items on this list are also included in the precautions Dr. Morgan referred to.
If you remember, we recently reported on what some of those precautions were, and that they were paid for using the $8.2 Million funds granted by the Federal Government in the form of COVID relief.
From our previous report:
“According to Kersey, the school system was mandated to spend at least 20% on COVID-19 related needs, which included contact free water fountains, masks, increased safety measures in the school offices and classrooms as well as other health related items. That would account for approximately $1.6 million.”
The Brantley Board of Education has not voted on a prohibition or approval of a mask or vaccine mandate at this time.
For accurate, up to date stories like this, you can always trust The Brantley Briefing.
We report, You decide.