Cobb County residents will come together Saturday to honor three educators who lost their battle with COVID-19.
A candlelight vigil will be held at 6 p.m. Saturday at McEachern Memorial United Methodist Church at 4075 Macland Road in Powder Springs.
The vigil will honor Dana Johnson, Patrick Key and Cynthia Lindsey, all of whom died in the hospital after they contracted the novel coronavirus.
Johnson was a Kemp Elementary School teacher, while Key taught art at Hendricks Elementary School and Lindsey was a paraprofessional at Sedalia Park Elementary School. Both Johnson and Lindsey died within hours of each other on Jan. 21. Key died on Christmas Day.
Their deaths came after teachers held protests and pressed the school district to move to remote-only learning due to the surge in COVID-19 cases late last year. They also wanted the district to give educators the option of teaching remotely or in the classroom.
Cobb teachers currently are required to teach in-person. They also simultaneously teach students who are learning from home and in the classroom.
Two more Cobb teachers, Jacob Furse of Garrett Middle School and Julia Varnedoe of Mount Bethel Elementary School, also were hospitalized last year with COVID-19. Both educators eventually recovered from the illness.
The school district reports more than 4,300 known cases of COVID-19 among staff and students from July 1 to March 19.
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