ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, N.C. — A new school year is beginning and decisions on whether to require masks in the classroom are leaving some parents concerned.
We've seen dozens of parents come out to school board meetings, demanding masks be optional. There are plenty of parents who do not agree with that, saying they prefer mask mandates.
Right now, masks are required at Guilford, Winston-Salem/Forsyth, Alamance-Burlington, Lexington City, and Montgomery County schools. They are optional at several other districts, including Rockingham, Davidson, Randolph, Yadkin, Wilkes, and Stokes County schools.
One Rockingham County Schools mom said her son is already back in the classroom where masks are optional and the rest of the district is set to return in a week and a half.
"I think they're going to find out very quickly that they've made a big mistake," Mary Ryan said.
Ryan's family, including her 17-year-old son, are vaccinated, but she worries that will not be enough to slow the spread of COVID-19 in his school without a mask requirement.
"As I've been going about doing business, I see very few people wearing masks and so I expect in the general community there will be problems," Ryan said.
The Rockingham County Board of Education voted to make masks optional the night before her son's first day back at Rockingham County Early College High School.
"They did not set up a safe alternative, so if you decide that you don't want your child going into the schools with unmasked unvaccinated people, you don't have a choice," Ryan said.
The district did extend the deadline for its E-Learning Academy to Friday. It's only available to grades 4-8.
She said so far, most of the students in her son's classes are choosing to mask, but she's not sure that will be the case throughout the district.
"A lot of kids going into the school without masks on and the Delta variant is going to spread very quickly and very easily that way, and the schools will end up closing quickly," Ryan said.
Parents in other mask optional districts share the same concerns. One told WFMY News 2's Grace Holland she hopes to pull her child out of the district, but did not want to go on camera, fearing it could hurt her chances.