CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — Safety concerns in one of Georgia's biggest school districts are causing a switch-up in the schedule for the first football games of the season. Instead of Friday night lights, the highly-anticipated rivalry games for the Clayton County school district will be played under the sun Saturday afternoon.
For some parents, students, and employees, this is a sigh of relief. Catherine Ornelas works at Mundy's Mill High School as a Behavior Intervention Specialist.
"It can be exciting, but behavior change… the new world is very different after COVID. So certain social, emotional skills, some students are delayed on or even the parents," she said.
Ornelas also has a son who attends a high school in the county.
"I'm not just speaking for Clayton County, but through schools, when you have rivalries, it can be crazy. All it takes is one person to kind of show out and you have a disaster waiting to happen," she said.
The game between Lovejoy High School and Mundy's Mill High School was rescheduled from Friday at 7 p.m. to Saturday at 1 p.m.
Saturday's North Clayton and Riverdale High School game was rescheduled from 7 p.m. to noon.
"I'm aware of things that are occurring even in the news with surrounding counties. There's an uptick, even in violence at youth football games. So I feel like they are taking the necessary precautions to make sure that our students and the community are safe," Ornelas added.
Betty Pattilo agrees. She said times have changed, and districts should be adapting. Her two kids graduated from Clayton County schools about 20 years ago and her grandson is currently in high school there.
"When I pick him up, he always says they have fights every day, that he don't even want to go to school. He wants to go back to virtual. It's not safe at no time of day now. Not even in the day nor night. But I think the day would be safer," she said.
Ornelas said her students understand why this is being done.
"It's now becoming the norm. For them, just seeing the news, the TikToks and all of that, they pretty much understand the notion of why we're heading in that direction. And that's really just to make sure that we seen for their safety," Ornelas added.
The district adds that school police, school resource officers, and campus resource officers will also provide security at every athletic event and that everyone attending games will only be able to bring one small, clear plastic bag.
Both moms said anything for safety and that they're already used to doing that for sporting events and concerts in Atlanta.
"I'm used to going into the game at State Farm Arena with a clear bag," Pattilo added. "So that's not a problem with me. I'm used to a clear bag."