{"id":43917,"date":"2021-08-28T21:41:54","date_gmt":"2021-08-28T16:11:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/districtchronicles.com\/georgia-school-told-teachers-scared-of-covid-they-could-wear-jeans\/"},"modified":"2021-08-28T21:42:01","modified_gmt":"2021-08-28T16:12:01","slug":"georgia-school-told-teachers-scared-of-covid-they-could-wear-jeans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/districtchronicles.com\/georgia-school-told-teachers-scared-of-covid-they-could-wear-jeans\/","title":{"rendered":"Georgia School Told Teachers Scared of COVID They Could Wear Jeans"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<ul class=\"summary-list summary-list-variant\">\n<li>A Georgia school official ignored teachers&#8217; demands for a mask mandate, instead offering to let them wear blue jeans.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>The superintendent hoped giving teachers &#8220;the liberty of wearing jeans&#8221; would be an &#8220;encouragement.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>As COVID cases rise, one teacher in the county called the announcement &#8220;super offensive.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"inline-newsletter-signup&#10;                            inline-newsletter-signup-variant&#10;                           headline-regular\" id=\"formContainer\" data-component-type=\"inline-newsletter-module\" data-list=\"10 Things in Politics You Need to Know\" data-acq-source=\"newsinlinesignup\" data-url=\"\">\n<div class=\"js-loader hidden\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"svg-icon \" version=\"1.1\" role=\"img\" width=\"50\" height=\"50\" viewbox=\"0 0 50 50\" style=\"enable-background:new 0 0 50 50;\" xml:space=\"preserve\">\n                          <title>Loading<\/title>\n                          <desc>Something is loading.<\/desc>\n                          <path fill=\"#111\" d=\"M43.935,25.145c0-10.318-8.364-18.683-18.683-18.683c-10.318,0-18.683,8.365-18.683,18.683h4.068c0-8.071,6.543-14.615,14.615-14.615c8.072,0,14.615,6.543,14.615,14.615H43.935z\">\n                            <animatetransform attributetype=\"xml\" attributename=\"transform\" type=\"rotate\" from=\"0 25 25\" to=\"360 25 25\" dur=\"0.6s\" repeatcount=\"indefinite\"\/>\n                          <\/path>\n                        <\/svg><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>As a Georgia school district grapples with rising COVID cases, teachers are begging the district for a mask mandate.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Instead, Bulloch County School District Superintendent Charles Wilson offered a more casual dress code \u2014 a move teachers have criticized.<\/p>\n<p>Wilson announced in an email last week that the district&#8217;s teachers could wear jeans for a month, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thedailybeast.com\/georgia-school-official-responds-to-covid-crisis-with-tone-deaf-blue-jeans-proposal\" data-analytics-module=\"body_link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Daily Beast&#8217;s Larrison Campbell<\/a> reported.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I talked with principals today and we all agreed that, though it is a small gesture, you would enjoy the liberty of wearing jeans for the next month,&#8221; Wilson wrote. &#8220;So, by all means, please enjoy your jeans throughout the month of September (and the rest of August).&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>A screenshot of the email, which has made rounds on Twitter, showed Wilson said &#8220;words can only go so far&#8221; as he thanked teachers for &#8220;all that you are doing for our students and for each other.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Everyone fights their own battles but all of you are angels and heroes to our children and they need you. Please remember that,&#8221; a screenshot of Wilson&#8217;s email shared by <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/charlesbethea\/status\/1431249399993208832?s=20\" data-analytics-module=\"body_link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The New Yorker&#8217;s Charles Bethea<\/a> read.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>One teacher at a school in Bulloch County told The Daily Beast that Wilson&#8217;s letter was &#8220;super offensive,&#8221; speaking anonymously for fear of retaliation.\u00a0Another compared going to school to &#8220;going to war.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The only weapons that we have are masks and vaccines if we&#8217;ve chosen to get it,&#8221; the second teacher, also speaking anonymously, said. &#8220;And our administrators sit in their offices sending out condescending little emails, as if jeans are going to help protect us or our families from getting sick.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Wilson did not immediately respond to Insider&#8217;s request for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>COVID numbers have been on the rise for the school district since classes started on August 2. In the first three weeks, nearly 900 of the district&#8217;s approximately 11,000 students tested positive for COVID, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bulloch.k12.ga.us\/pf4\/cms2\/view_page?d=x&amp;group_id=1625129202955&amp;vdid=i21ce2pvaxxx260i\" data-analytics-module=\"body_link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the district reported<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>On August 12, the school district elevated its COVID protocols to &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bulloch.k12.ga.us\/pf4\/cms2\/view_page?d=x&amp;group_id=1593846433944&amp;vdid=3i2h1c2krkj78cd2\" data-analytics-module=\"body_link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">high-spread level<\/a>&#8220;, which states that &#8220;masks are not required but are strongly encouraged especially in settings where social distancing is difficult to accomplish.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bullochschools.org\/returntoschool?fbclid=IwAR2SF7uUcagwFExgQpCdChkXhJMjTY8WDJahstdrEljPKirqxUms1YUxBzs\" data-analytics-module=\"body_link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Bulloch County&#8217;s COVID guidelines<\/a>, students who have been exposed to a COVID-positive person can still attend school as long as they are asymptomatic, despite <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/coronavirus\/2019-ncov\/faq.html#Spread\" data-analytics-module=\"body_link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">CDC findings<\/a> that people can spread COVID before they see symptoms in themselves.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/allongeorgia.com\/bulloch-schools\/message-from-bulloch-county-school-superintendent-charles-wilson\/?fr=operanews\" data-analytics-module=\"body_link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">statement to parents<\/a> on August 19, Wilson said the district is planning on keeping schools open.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I want to assure you that Bulloch County Schools is aware of the many and diverse perspectives across our community regarding COVID-19 and the status of our schools. Please know that we are committed to keeping our schools open and monitoring conditions within our schools to appropriately balance the practicalities of providing a healthy, safe, and nurturing learning environment,&#8221; Wilson said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Georgia school official ignored teachers&#8217; demands for a mask mandate, instead offering to let them wear blue jeans.\u00a0 The superintendent hoped giving teachers &#8220;the &#8230; <a title=\"Georgia School Told Teachers Scared of COVID They Could Wear Jeans\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/districtchronicles.com\/georgia-school-told-teachers-scared-of-covid-they-could-wear-jeans\/\" aria-label=\"More on Georgia School Told Teachers Scared of COVID They Could Wear Jeans\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":43918,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/districtchronicles.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43917"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/districtchronicles.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/districtchronicles.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/districtchronicles.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/districtchronicles.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/districtchronicles.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43917\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/districtchronicles.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/districtchronicles.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/districtchronicles.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/districtchronicles.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}