A viral photo showing students in a Georgia high school crowded in hallways and with few visible masks resulted in the sophomore who posted it being suspended, she said.
Hannah Watters, a student at North Paulding High School in Dallas, Georgia, saw a photo of packed halls on the first day of school go viral. And when she saw that little had changed after that, she told CNN’s Laura Coates on Thursday, she felt she had to share what it looked like inside the school. So, she took a photo of the scene and posted it to social media.
“I was concerned for the safety of everyone in that building and everyone in the county because precautions that the CDC and guidelines that the CDC has been telling us for months now, weren’t being followed,” Watters said.
As schools have opened for the new academic year around the country, parents and administrators are making difficult decisions about how to ensure students get the education they need while also staying safe in an ongoing pandemic. While many have responded to the resurgence of cases with completely remote schooling, others have opted to return to the classroom — which the nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, has said works if safety measures are the priority.
CNN reached out to North Paulding High School and the Paulding County School District and has not received any response.
In a letter to the community, Superintendent Brian Otott said the photo was taken out of context, writing: “Class changes at the high school level are a challenge when maintaining a specific schedule. It is an area we are continuing to work on in this new environment to find practicable ways to further limit students from congregating. Students are in this hallway environment for just a brief period as they move to their next class. … There is no question that the photo does not look good. … Wearing a mask is a personal choice, and there is no practical way to enforce a mandate to wear them.”
Watters said the time to move from one class to another only lasts about five minutes, but students from all classes are often speed walking from one end of campus to the other, passing by countless people.
Watters said she was suspended over the photo and that the school said she violated three conduct policies: using her phone during instruction time, using her phone during school hours for social media and filming students and posting on a social media platform.
But students in grades 9 through 12 are exempt from the phone ban, Watters said, and she didn’t post the photo until school was over. Watters admitted she broke the policy on posting images of students to social media, but she doesn’t regret it.
“I’d like to say this is some good and necessary trouble,” Watters said. “My biggest concern is not only about me being safe, it’s about everyone being safe because behind every teacher, student and staff member there is a family, there are friends, and I would just want to keep everyone safe.”