Gwinnett Parents Protest 2nd Day, Demand In-Person Instruction

SUWANEE, GA — Chanting “all kids matter” and “classroom, not class Zoom,” parents protested for a second day at Gwinnett County school headquarters, demanding in-person instruction.

The crowd of more than 100 — many with children in tow, some of them with special needs — gathered Monday afternoon in front of the steps of the J. Alvin Wilbanks Instructional Support Center. At one point, they demanded that the longtime school superintendent the building is named for come out to speak with them.

After initially offering in-person education with support from almost all board members, Gwinnett County Public Schools backtracked and announced July 20 that it would keep classes virtual this fall to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

“They’re asking people to choose between their bills and their child’s education,” said Samantha Hulse, a 2017 graduate of Lanier High School who said she struggled with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder as a student. “It is not OK, it is not right.”

“It’s bad enough what you folks have to handle with one child,” said Michael Carlotta of Lilburn, who has five adopted children, two of whom are on the autism spectrum and one with special needs. “If there are teachers that are willing and students that are willing and parents that are willing, we need to do this.”

Elaine Nietmann, a Lilburn attorney with a special-needs son, was particularly impassioned.

“Am I going to go to work with him today? Is he just going to sit there because he can’t do anything?” Nietmann said through a megaphone to the other demonstrators. “I don’t know how to teach him. And there are things that teachers are supposed to be doing to help him, but they’re not going to do it? We can’t have this.”

Shawn Stevens, a longtime speech language pathologist with the Gwinnett schools, told the crowd that Zoom just didn’t work for most of her students. The only student who worked well with Zoom, she said, was one who sat on her father’s lap as she learned.

Not all parents can do that. “They set them on a barstool with their cereal and go to work,” Stevens said. “It’s not fair to the children who are not able to communicate.”

Stevens later told Patch that the “majority of teachers” she works with — who are all special-education instructors — felt the same way she did. She added that she was afraid she might lose her job for speaking out.

“What if I’m fired over this?” she told Patch. “I’m worried.”

David Post, Republican candidate for Gwinnett County chairman, also spoke to the crowd, offering his support.

“What does a single woman with two kids do?” he later told Patch. “You know, when getting your kids into a child care center costs more money than what she’s making on the job. The kids need to be in school.”

But what about teachers who may expose their own families to the coronavirus by being in a classroom full of children?

“I don’t know. They’re going to have to practice safety,” said Post, who wasn't wearing a mask when he spoke to Patch. Almost everybody else there was wearing a mask.

When asked by Patch how that could be accomplished with children who could also spread the disease, Post answered that “you have to take the route with the least damage.

“You have to understand, there’s no perfect solution,” Post said to Patch. “This is a crisis-management situation.”

So collateral damage to the teachers is acceptable?

“Collateral damage has to be acceptable at some point because nothing is perfect,” Post answered. “If the teacher doesn’t want to teach, that should be their choice. But the kids need to be back in school.”

In addition to having Georgia's largest school system, Gwinnett County also has one of the highest numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the state.

The Georgia Department of Public Health reported Monday that Gwinnett County had 15,534 cases of COVID-19, 16 percent more than a week ago, when online-only classes were announced. Gwinnett also has reported 216 deaths so far related to COVID-19. Only Fulton and Cobb counties have reported more.

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