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Athens Drive Magnet High School and Conn Magnet Elementary School won national awards Saturday at the Magnet Schools of America's annual conference.

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On Monday, school leaders will meet in Harnett County to discuss face masks in schools and shortening student quarantine periods.



<b>LILLINGTON, N.C.</b> — On Monday, school leaders will meet in Harnett County to discuss face masks in schools and shortening student quarantine periods.

The meeting comes just one day before a controversial mask policy is set to take effect. In mid-September, <a href="https://www.wral.com/coronavirus/story/masks-optional-in-harnett-county-schools-starting-in-october/19874578/">Harnett County Board of Education members voted 3-2</a> to make masks optional for students and staff. The new policy is supposed to take effect Tuesday, but health officials and some parents are unhappy with the decision.

As a result, masks are back on the agenda for Monday's meeting. Attached to school board agenda is a letter from the county’s health director sent at the end of September.

Harnett County Schools' decision to lift its mask mandate next month could be disastrous for the community, a public health expert said Tuesday.

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The letter asks the school superintendent to reconsider reducing the quarantine period from 10 days to 7 days. The county health director also asks that masks continue to be worn in schools.

Other parents don't want a mask mandate and have voiced their concerns in <a href="https://www.wral.com/story/twin-anti-mask-protests-held-at-orange-harnett-school-board-meetings/19874286/">recent protests</a>.

Parents gathered in the parking lot of the Harnett County Board of Education meeting to protest the district's decision to mandate that children wear face masks inside. Harnett has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the state; only a little more than 30% of people in the county are vaccinated, state data shows. 

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF MEDICAL EXAMINER TO DETERMINE HIS CAUSE OF DEATH. >>> A PROTEST IS PLANNED FOR HARNETT COUNTY TO DISCUSS COVID PROTOCOLS LAST WEEK MORE THAN 200 CASES WERE REPORTED IN HARNETT COUNTY SCHOOLS, 1400 PEOPLE IN QUARANTINE, A SIMILAR PROTEST IS ALSO HAPPENING IN MOORE COUNTY, CHRIS IS LIVE OUTSIDE THAT PROTEST RIGHT NOW, CHRIS WHAT CAN YOU TELL US? >>. >> WE'VE GOT SOME PARENTS HERE IN HARNETT COUNTY WHO HAVE ARRIVED, THEY HAVE A VERY CLEAR MESSAGE FOR THE SCHOOL DISTRICT HERE SAYING THAT THEY ARE THE PARENTS AND THEY WANT TO BE THE ONES TO DECIDE WHETHER THEIR CHILD WEAR A MASK IN SCHOOL OR NOT, YOU MIGHT CALL THE DISTRICT ORIGINALLY MADE MASK WEARING OPTIONAL, AS MORE COVID CASES SERVICED SURFACING, IT WAS MADE MANDATORY, HAD 165 CASES, CLOSE TO A THOUSAND PEOPLE WITHIN THE DISTRICT WHO ARE QUARANTINE, WE TALK TO ONE PARENT WHO SPOKE STRONGLY WHY SHE IS HERE TODAY. >> I JUST WANT TO HAVE THE CHOICE, I WOULD PREFER THE CHOICE, I'M THE PARENT OF MY CHILD, I WANT TO MAKE THE CHOICE WHETHER MY CHILD SHOULD WEAR A MASK OR NOT. >> IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT THE STATE DHS SAYS THEY MAKE UP 30% OF ALL NEW CASES OF COVID- 19, THAT'S THE HIGHEST ITS BEEN SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THE PANDEMIC, THE HARNETT COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT IS EXPECTED TO SPEAK HAVE THEIR MEETING TONIGHT AROUND 6:00, WE'LL BE COVERING THAT BRING YOU THE LATEST OF WHAT UNFOLDS DURING

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"I just want to have the choice. I would prefer the choice," said mother Virginia Barnes. "I am the parent of my child [and] I want to make the choice whether my child wears a mask or not."

The state Department of Health and Human Services' safe schools tool kit calls for mask wearing and 10 days of quarantining after a positive test.

Monday's board meeting will be available to watch beginning at 6 p.m.

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Mykia Daniel, an eighth grader at Ligon Middle School, was shot and killed on Monday in a north Raleigh apartment. A 16-year-old was charged with her murder.


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WRAL News has new information Thursday in the search for Blake and London Deven, siblings who vanished from Fayetteville several years ago.

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Coming off a momentous win in Game 2, the Carolina Hurricanes hit the road for Game 3 of the first-round playoff series against the New York Islanders on Thursday night at UBS Arena.

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A mother said her daughter and a friend are alive thanks to a quick-thinking Uber driver and Narcan administered by paramedics. 



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For Thursday night you will need to bundle up. It will get chilly tonight, with lows in the forties: 48 in Durham, 46 in Rocky Mount, 49 n Goldsboro, and 49 in Southern Pines.

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Nightly N.C. Education Lottery drawings during the 11 p.m. News.

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Daytime Pick 3 and Pick 4 drawings are held at 3 p.m. daily. They can be seen as live or on-demand video.

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Gov. Roy Cooper, museum leaders and museum paleontologist Dr. Lindsay Zanno on Thursday preview Dueling Dinosaurs, a brand new exhibit at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. The exhibit opens to the public Saturday.

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Many thought the Panthers would have the night off, but apparently they didn't get the memo! Carolina traded back into the first round to draft South Carolina receiver Xavier Legette, on a night dominated by offensive playmakers.

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With Hurricane defenseman Brett Pesce likely out for the rest of the series vs. the Islanders, that opens the door for Tony DeAngelo to slide in. The regular season didn't go as he had hoped, but he's ready to step in 

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