Father harassed for supporting school mask mandate 1:34
(CNN) -
The heated discussions spread to a parking lot Tuesday night after a suburban Tennessee county school board approved a temporary requirement for face masks in elementary schools due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
At a time when debates about face masks in U.S. schools resurfaced with the start of the academic year, the Williamson County Board of Education, south of Nashville, approved the face mask requirement for elementary school students. , staff and visitors inside all buildings and on buses beginning Thursday through September 21, according to information from the school district.
With the delta variant, which is highly contagious, covid-19 cases and hospitalizations among children increased.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that students in kindergarten through 12th grade wear masks to school, along with teachers and visitors, while the American Academy de Pediatrics recommends the use of masks in schools for everyone over 2 years of age.
And real-life testing of the protection that masks offer leaves little doubt about their success.
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During the special Tennessee school board session, parents on both sides of the mask discussion shared their opinions.
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"In my hospital, we see otherwise healthy people in their 30s and 40s get sick, and case counts increase exponentially and some die," said Dr. Britt Maxwell, an internal medicine specialist who later said to CNN that he went to the meeting because "my children are at risk."
"We have to do everything we can to protect the entire community, and that means the people in this room who disagree with me and their children in the classrooms," Maxwell said at the meeting.
"If we don't do this, we're going to have school closures and lockdown and unnecessary tragedies, and I don't want that for my community."
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One of the parents, who identified himself as Daniel Jordan, a former seaman, told the board: "Actions have consequences. If you vote for this, we will go for you, non-violently. In the past, you dealt with sheep; now get ready. to deal with lions. "
Jennifer King, mother and pediatric intensive care specialist, commented: "As a pediatric intensive care specialist, we see more previously healthy young children admitted with respiratory failure and acute respiratory distress syndrome than in previous variants as cases in children increase. This trend will only get worse if we don't act now. "
During the meeting, the audience cheered, clapped and booed, and at one point people with banners were asked to vacate the room.
Outside, the crowd booed those wearing masks as they left the session, and one man said: "We know who they are. They can go out freely, but we will find them," a video obtained by CNN shows.
A Williamson County Sheriff's Office sergeant could be seen imploring the crowd to be peaceful.
"These are the lives we are trying to save"
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"It was shocking," Maxwell told CNN Thursday morning.
He left the meeting early, after part of the public intervention, he pointed out.
The energy in the room was "hot," he said, and he knew "things were going to get a lot worse."
Maxwell and his wife, who is also a medical professional, got ready before leaving, he said.
"I took my wife's arm and said, 'Remember, whatever they say, these are the lives we're trying to save.'
There was a crowd chanting when they came out, Maxwell said.
Someone approached him, "put his hand on my face and called me a traitor."
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"I don't understand how anyone can say that when I've been on the front line of this pandemic from the beginning, treating patients in the rooms, unvaccinated for most of it, hoping not to take it to my family. And someone say that is amazing, "he told CNN.
Maxwell did not see video of the encounters outside of the meeting until the next morning and it scared him, he said, adding that it is not acceptable to threaten or harass people.
Asked if he feels safe, Maxwell stated that he likes to believe that the outburst of anger was the result of a few people losing control of their emotions.
"I like to think that they were also parents concerned about their children, that they want the best for them, that they have different facts from mine," he said.
"And I like to think that tempers will calm down and that I will be safe and my family will too. I hope so."
Debates over face masks resurface in some states
The debates (although less heated than the verbal confrontations in Williamson County) have raged in recent weeks in Florida, where the governor threatened to withhold the salaries of superintendents and members of school boards who made the masks mandatory, challenging its executive order that parents must decide how to protect their children in the pandemic.
Parents and school officials in Texas have also been divided on how to keep children safe after the governor of that state issued an executive order preventing schools from requiring masks.
And in Georgia, parents are expected to protest Thursday at the Cobb County School District central office to demand that the district implement a face mask mandate after fifth-graders from one of its suburban elementary schools. from Atlanta were sent home this week for virtual classes due to the high number of positive COVID-19 cases.
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The Williamson County Board issued a statement on the mask debate there, saying, "Our parents are passionate about their children's education, and that is one of the reasons for our district's success over the years. That said, there is no excuse for being out of control.
"We serve more than 40,000 students and employ more than 5,000 staff members. Our families and staff represent a wide variety of thoughts and beliefs, and it is important in our district that all families and staff have the opportunity to be represented and We will continue to work so that all voices are heard and that all families, staff and community members feel safe sharing their opinions, "added the district.
The temporary mandate for the masks will allow teachers who are at least 6 feet from students to remove the masks, the district said.
The measure applies specifically to elementary schools, and the use of masks is strongly recommended for middle and high school students.
In late July, the CDC also recommended that localities encourage all teachers, staff, students, and visitors to schools to wear masks indoors, regardless of vaccination status, due to the rapid spread of the delta variant.
CNN's Dakin Andone contributed to this report.
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