MUNFORD, Tennessee — "We would have never considered homeschooling our child in the past but it's a safety issue," Jay DeWitt said.
The Tipton County Schools parent felt there wasn't another choice for his 10-year-old daughter, once some Munford Elementary School parents opted their children out of the district's mask mandate.
Gov. Bill Lee's executive order August 16th came the same day the TCS mask mandate took effect.
"Cooperating with the teachers in the school and asking them what was going on they said 'they aren't wearing them and we don't have the authority to make them', so we had to take our unvaccinated child out," DeWitt added.
That means DeWitt's wife - a small business owner - transitioned to temporary teacher. It's a sacrifice he admits other families cannot make as they weigh the risks of some students learning without masks.
"It's really unfair because it's the least among us that cannot make their children safe right now," DeWitt said.
According to the Tipton County Schools COVID-19 dashboard, Munford Elementary's COVID cases among students and staff jumped from one the first week of school to 20 as of last Friday.
District wide, in that same period, total students and staff COVID cases surged from 39 to 238, a 510% spike.
"I'm concerned for the kids because they don't have a decision in all of this," DeWitt said. "These are people that have to rely on us to make the adult decisions."
Those with Tipton County Schools encourage parents to keep their kids home if sick or symptomatic.
COVID testing isn't available now on-site for students but is for staff.
While there's no virtual school option, there are 13 available stockpile days if a school needs to temporarily close because of a COVID outbreak.
"They know what to do. The leadership that is so sorely needed is there on the local level. This is just a political football at this point," DeWitt said.
Tipton County Superintendent Dr. John Combs said he's encouraged by five straight days of declining district wide absences. Right now, nearly 17% of Tipton County Schools families opted out of the district's mask mandate.