Debate escalates over masks as the start of school year approaches CNN By Mallory Simon, Amara Walker and Maria Cartaya, CNN Six-year-old Audrey Gard will head to first grade next week wearing a mask. It’s a precaution her mom believes will help to minimize the chances of her getting coronavirus. But the Gwinnett County School District, north of Atlanta, is making masks optional for now, and Sara Holton Gard fears that could leave her family caught in the middle. “I’m confident in her wearing a mask at school,” Holton Gard says of her daughter. “But I don’t have confidence that the rest of the kids will. And that makes me very nervous …