ATLANTA – State School Superintendent Richard Woods released guidelines Friday addressing school crowding in the face of classrooms reopening during a pandemic.

This statement comes after Georgia began making national headlines with a photo from North Paulding High School in Dallas. According to The Washington Post, the photo depicting a school hallway full of mostly mask-less students resulted in suspension for students who shared the image.

Woods said in his statement he has received many questions regarding hallway transitions and class changes.

“Our reopening guidelines developed in partnership with the Georgia Department of Public Health lay out strategies schools can use to limit the number of students congregating during transitions, including staggered class changes and hallway flow paths. While these are recommendations and not mandates, we do strongly suggest that schools consider implementing these strategies,” Woods said, adding that face coverings, which are also not mandated, be “strongly suggested.”

He addressed the disciplinary action taken against students who share photos taken within schools. 

“To be very clear, discipline decisions are constitutionally the purview of local boards of education. With that said, I want to encourage our districts and schools to operate with transparency, and to ensure that students and staff are not penalized for expressing their concerns,” Woods said.

All of the Georgia Department of Education’s reopening guidelines can be found online at gadoe.org.

Schools within the Valdosta and Lowndes County area have all made varying choices as to how reopening will look with the two largest systems, Valdosta City and Lowndes County, opting to go back Sept. 8 and Aug. 14 respectively.