Hundreds Demand School District In Georgia Allow In-Person Classes.
BLITZER: Families all across the United States right now, they're grappling with how to go back to school safely amid this pandemic. Some school officials, they're actually deciding to begin the fall term entirely online as COVID cases are surging across the south and some of the western states, including in Georgia's largest school district where hundreds are pushing for teachers and kids to actually return to in-class instruction this fall. I want to bring in CNN's Natasha Chen who's joining us from Atlanta. Natasha, so how are the Atlanta schools handling back-to-school decisions for the fall? When I say the fall, schools are supposed to begin sometime in early August, mid-August or late August.</s>NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, a lot of them have actually pushed that date back, so they're delaying the start of school. And looking at the very dramatic rise in numbers across the state of Georgia. Some of them have made the call to go all virtual, even if they had intended to offer both in-person and virtual initially. So parents are responding to that. Teachers are responding as well. I talked to one teacher in Gwinnett County who said her colleagues are relieved at this decision to go all virtual. And she does feel more confident about the structure of online learning this fall after what they learned in the spring. Still, that puts some parents in a bind.</s>CHEN (voice-over): During a typical summer break children aren't usually running towards a school building demanding to go to class, but in the midst of a pandemic, these students and parents in Gwinnett County outside of Atlanta are protesting the state's largest school district's change of heart on reopening going all virtual instead of offering some in-class options.</s>KELLY WILLYARD, MOTHER OF TWO FIFTH GRADERS: All of sudden, two weeks before school, you know, the rug has been pulled from underneath us all and we're scrambling.</s>CHEN: Kelly Willyard told CNN's Chris Cuomo she understands the health risks and respects parents who wish to keep their kids at home, but she and her husband also need to leave home for work during the day creating a potential childcare problem.</s>WILLYARD: Dollywood is open. The grocery stores are open. The airlines are open. Corporate America is opening up. Gas stations, what have you. And then we as parents feel like we just got left in the dust and you all just figure it out.</s>RUTH HARTMAN, FULTON COUNTY, GEORGIA PARENT: Look, they can protest, and that's their right. However, there's no science behind it. So even if they decide to keep their kids, you know, make them go face-to- face, that's on them. I can't back that at all.</s>CHEN: Ruth Hartman runs an unofficial parent Facebook group for Fulton County schools. She said the argument over in-class versus virtual and whether masks should be required has gotten political when it should just be about the science.</s>DR. DEBORAH BIRX, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE COORDINATOR: What I can't tell you for sure despite the South Korean study is whether children under 10 in the United States don't spread the virus as the same as children over 10. I think that is still an open question that needs to be studied in the United States. We certainly know from other studies that children under 10 do get infected. It's just unclear how rapidly they spread the virus.</s>CHEN: The overall data in Georgia shows a staggering rise in COVID-19 cases with the highest number of them in the red zones including Fulton and Gwinnett Counties. In nearby Cobb County the virus is also spreading aggressively.</s>CHRIS RAGSDALE, SUPERINTENDENT, COBB COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT: And we are in that hot transmission section right now. And we as an organization cannot add to the transmission rate increasing it.</s>CHEN: Parent opinions vary by zip code and if they can afford child care or private tutoring. In a June survey, 43 percent of Gwinnett County parents said they want all in-classroom learning while just over half of them said they'd be uncomfortable with that. In the urban core parents in the south and west parts of Atlanta were more likely to strongly prefer virtual learning compared to parents in the north. It's a preference often based on personal experience.</s>HARTMAN: And I've actually attended two COVID-related funerals recently. I mean, it's happening. Even if it's not happening to you, it's happening. And it's terrifying.</s>CHEN: I talked to a couple more parents. One from Gwinnett County where that protest was happening. There's another protest tomorrow. And she said that those parents don't necessarily represent all of them. They don't represent her views. She's relieved to go all virtual. Another parent from Cobb County also described her relief to me. She said, because before the district made that decision, she's had too many questions about how the schools would provide the level of precaution to keep kids and staff safe -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: All right, Natasha, thanks very much. Natasha Chen in Atlanta reporting for us. We certainly all know that opening schools is so important for the country. If -- if it can be done safely. Up next I'll speak with two former Cabinet secretaries under President Obama to see how they grade the current government in its push to open the schools. That's next. Stay with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.