Georgia Parents File Complaint With Education Department Over Schools' Opt-Out Mask Policy

More than 200 kids and dozens of staff in one school district have reported COVID-19 cases since school started in mid-August.

Parents in a Georgia school district have filed a complaint with the Department of Education over their schools’ policy allowing students to opt out of wearing a mask in school, even as COVID-19 cases mount across the district. In a complaint filed with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, a Dalton Public Schools parent who’s also an attorney representing other parents in the district requested an investigation into the Dalton Public Schools’ “mismanagement and dereliction of duties to protect the health of all students.”  The current school district policy is that masks are required in school buildings but that parents can “opt out” of making their children wear them ― without providing any reason. A simple form to opt out is available online and does not require parents to supply any justification for why the student won’t be wearing a mask indoors.