Teacher’s obituary asked people to wear masks. Georgia school board members refused
When a Georgia teacher died of COVID-19 on Christmas, his family didn’t want flowers.
Instead, they asked in his obituary that people honor him by buying and wearing face masks to protect themselves and others from the virus.
Patrick Key, 53, died after spending 41 days battling the virus in the ICU, according to his obituary.
He taught art at an elementary school in Cobb County for 23 years, his obituary reads. He loved Star Wars, science fiction and comic books. He also felt “passionate” about mask use during the pandemic.
But when some members of the Cobb County School Board were asked to put on face masks in Key’s honor during a meeting last week, they refused.
Jennifer Susko, a school counselor in Cobb County, spoke about Key’s death during the Thursday meeting, saying it was “hard on Cobb educators.”
“We still feel intense sadness and deep empathy for Mr. Key’s wife,” she said.
She asked that more be done to honor and remember Key and quoted the request for mask use in his obituary.
“I’m going to stop talking for a few seconds in honor of Mr. Key,” Susko said. “During the silence, I’d like to ask all members of the board and the superintendent to put on your mask as a tribute to this teacher who did everything you asked of him, even teaching through a pandemic.”
Roughly 13 seconds of silence passed as the few board members not wearing masks stared down at their desks or fidgeted in their seats while refusing to put on a mask.
“I’d like the record to reflect that some of you did not wear a mask — the final request of a Cobb teacher who died,” Susko said. “Your actions in these two minutes have spoken louder than words. We see where your priorities are. Please know that many of us reject your false gratitude for staff since we seem disposable to many of you.”
Key is one of three Cobb County educators who has died of the coronavirus in the past month.
Dana Johnson and Cynthia Lindsey, both elementary school teachers, died within hours of each other on Thursday, McClatchy News previously reported.
The deaths have sparked frustration directed at the school board, which some have accused of not taking the pandemic seriously enough, 11Alive reports.
The board responded to the teachers’ deaths and the recent refusal of some members to wear masks in a written statement to CBS46.
“The Cobb County Board and District’s hearts go out to the Johnson, Key and Lindsey families,” the statement read. “Cynthia, Dana and Patrick were incredibly valuable members of our Team.”
The statement went on to say that the board will “continue to take every possible step to keep our hallways safe, our classrooms healthy and our schools open both remotely and face-to-face.”
“Our entire Team, including our Board, is following the District mask policy which can be found here Learning Everywhere (cobbk12.org), which asks all staff or students to wear a mask at all times when social distancing is not possible,” the statement says. “As you can clearly see, in the case of our Board meetings, the room has been intentionally spaced to allow for social distancing.”
Cobb County schools had 388 active cases of the virus as of Friday, according to the district. It moved all students to remote learning on Jan. 19 after “high numbers” of staff and students were required to quarantine. In-person and remote classes will resume Monday.
Some teachers and parents, however, have pushed for classes to be fully remote.
A group protested outside the school board meeting Thursday, CNN reports, and more than 6,700 had signed an online petition as of Sunday afternoon.
Key’s wife of 23 years, Priscella, posted the video of the board meeting on Facebook.
“I have many feelings but no socially appropriate words to describe them,” she wrote.
Key’s niece, Heather Welch, told WSB-TV the meeting “infuriated” her.
“It’s a slap in the face,” she told the outlet. “It’s basically spitting on us and our loss as a family, and also to the other two families of the two teachers who passed away.”
This story was originally published January 24, 2021 at 12:12 PM with the headline "Teacher’s obituary asked people to wear masks. Georgia school board members refused."
