North Paulding HS students risk punishment for exposing COVID concerns

PAULDING COUNTY, Ga. (CBS46) -- A viral picture of a packed Paulding County school hallway has put the county in the national spotlight.

In an exclusive recording obtained by CBS46, students are now being warned against such actions.

“Anything that’s going on social media that’s negative or alike without permission, photography, that’s video or anything, there will be consequences,” warned the announcement at North Paulding High School.

“It just sounded like they were trying to cover up the fact that they were putting people in unsafe conditions,” said the student who recorded the announcement.

In a released statement, Superintendent Dr. Brian Otott said schools are following the Georgia Department of Education’s path and that a high school such as North Paulding with over 2,000 students are going to see crowded areas from time to time, but kids are in contact for less than 15 minutes.

Paulding County isn't the only school district experiencing issues due to the pandemic. In Cherokee County a first-grade student at Hasty ES Fine Arts Academy has tested positive along with an eighth grader from Dean Rusk Middle School. A kindergarten teacher at R.M Moore STEM Academy has also exhibited symptoms, but a positive test has yet to be confirmed.

Parents of players on Union Grove High football team also received bad news.

“I text the coach and I said I need you to call me immediately because I heard some rumors that there is a child on the team that tested positive for COVID,” said Delicia George, who's son is on the team. 

Henry County Schools confirmed the positive case to CBS46 reporter Jamie Kennedy.

Delicia said her child had been practicing with the infected player and the school was not forthright in informing parents.

“I’m really pissed off because as a parent if my son is involved in a team organization and one child tests positive than the entire parental squad needs to be made aware of it,” said Delicia.

Henry County School District sent the following statement to CBS46:

Henry County Schools has been following the strict guidelines of GHSA to condition and prepare for the upcoming fall sports season. As a part of their guidelines, student-athletes are separated into different conditioning groups for safety precautions and participation number restrictions. When Union Grove High School had a student report a positive COVID-19 test, that student athlete, along with the athletes identified in that particular conditioning group were immediately notified utilizing the GaDPH and HCS protocols. None of the other groups were in close contact or met the CDC stipulations of being within six feet of the infected person for more than 15 minutes that would necessitate quarantining.

We have updated all of our football families to make them aware that one of the conditioning groups has been quarantined due to a positive case. The message sent was also to reassure them that their student was not known to be in close contact with this particular student-athlete. We continue to work with health officials and school leaders to ensure all of our students are safe during this time and will follow their guidance in alerting our school communities.

John Hardin, Executive Director, Communications & Public Relations, Henry County Schools