Parents outraged over Columbus school’s PTA event during COVID-19. ‘It defies reason’
Two parents say school and PTA leaders are risking the health of families by scheduling an event at a Columbus trampoline park amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The concern for parent Chris Parker started Monday, when he saw the Clubview Elementary School PTA posted on its Facebook page an invitation to what was called a “fall festival” at Sky Zone. Clubview traditionally conducts its annual fall festival around Halloween on the campus outside, but this year’s event was canceled.
“This seems like an aggressively bad idea during the pandemic,” Parker, the father of a Clubview third-grader, wrote in an email Tuesday to principal Teresa Lawson. “While I can understand not wanting to host the fall festival on school grounds this year, at least the original event was outside, which would have been orders of magnitude safer.
“Is this year’s Fall Festival being endorsed by the school?”
Lawson replied in an email Wednesday to Parker, “Hi! Our Sky Zone event is the monthly PTA Spirit Night. We are not hosting the fall festival this year. I requested that the coordinator change the graphic to lessen any confusion. Thank you for reaching out.”
The graphic on the Clubview PTA’s Facebook page was changed from calling the event a “fall festival” to “fall fun,” but that didn’t satisfy Parker.
“I can complain to the PTA or to the principal, and they’re just going to tell me to not send my kids, you don’t have to go, it’s an optional event,” Parker told the Ledger-Enquirer on Thursday. “That’s fine. But that’s not where the danger is.
“The kids are going to go to this thing, and they’re going to create a spreader event, and they’re going to go right back to school. That’s where the danger lies. That’s where the outbreak happens.”
In an email Thursday to the L-E, Lawson said Parker is the only parent who has expressed concern to her about the event. She noted the Clubview PTA hosted a Spirit Night last month at Icey Girl and will host one at Chipotle in November.
“Our families love to connect with each other outside of the school setting,” she said, “and our Clubview students enjoy socializing with each other at fun events.”
The only legal restriction in Georgia against large gatherings amid the pandemic is in Gov. Brian Kemp’s executive order, which bans gatherings of more than 50 people unless they are related to “essential critical infrastructure” or there is at least 6 feet between each person.
The Clubview PTA president and a Sky Zone representative didn’t reply to the L-E’s request for comment before publication. When asked what precautions will be taken to lessen the risk of spreading the coronavirus at the event, Lawson said, “Sky Zone will operate under their current operating procedures, restrictions and COVID-19 protocols.”
Sky Zone’s website lists multiple COVID-19 precautions including daily disinfectant spraying or fogging of the park and “new standards to reduce capacity, enable social distancing and promote good hygiene practices within the park.”
Concern over possible spread
Brian Cook, the father of a Clubview fourth-grader, also objects to this decision.
“To jump into an event that is enclosed, that seems really irresponsible to me,” Cook told the Ledger-Enquirer. “We won’t be attending, but that’s not the point. The point, for me, is that all the kids who do attend are still going to school, and that’s where I’m more concerned.”
Further compounding the problem for Parker and Cook, they chose to change the learning mode for their children from virtual to in-person classes, starting Oct. 14. But if the Clubview PTA conducts the Oct. 30 event as scheduled, they said they might change their choice again.
“We’ll certainly be paying a lot closer attention to the COVID outbreak news as it pertains the Muscogee County School District,” Parker said.
MCSD’s weekly announcement of positive coronavirus tests reports cases among students and employees in the district but not at each school.
“That’s another thing that really makes me uncomfortable about this,” Cook said. “… The absence of that information bothers me a great deal.”
Both fathers praised school and district leaders for the precautions they have taken to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus — making the decision to have this event more bewildering, they said.
“We’re so thankful that we have a school board that is taking this seriously and a superintendent that is taking this seriously, and our school has been taking it seriously,” Parker said, “but this public event at an enclosed space, it defies reason.”
