Taylor English CEO Kirk Hancock has to juggle multiple points of view as he runs a law firm with 179 professionals across 14 cities. That may have prepared him for a question he faced chairing the school board in Troup County near the Georgia-Alabama border: Should students and staff be required to wear masks?

The issue has divided Georgians despite health authorities’ pleas that they wear masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19, which has killed more than 5,000 people in the state since March. Gov. Brian Kemp dons a mask in public but won’t issue a statewide order, and he sued Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms to stop her mask mandate.