Some state schools set mask rules; at others, parents fret
With the school year about to start and COVID-19 cases rising, some Wisconsin school districts have changed course at the last minute and opted to require masks in the classrooms.
But at others where masks are still optional, some parents remain nervous.
Less than a week before the academic year is set to start, the state was averaging more than 1,400 new cases a day, up from 150 in mid-July and largely driven by the highly contagious delta variant.
Meanwhile, children under 12 remain ineligible for vaccination. And, that’s not likely to change until the end of the year, Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institute of Health, said Tuesday.
Although an analysis by the American Academy of Pediatrics and Children’s Hospital Association showed children are less likely to become infected with COVID-19 and they’re rarely hospitalized or die from the illness, experts say the delta variant may cause more symptomatic infections in kids, and that it’s essential for them to wear masks in schools.
Mirroring the most recent guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the state Department of Public Instruction earlier this month recommended that schools require face coverings while indoors.
On Wednesday, state Superintendent Jill Underly again pleaded with parents and schools to do what they can to stay open – such as getting vaccinated and wearing masks in crowded indoor settings like schools.
The same day, UW Health released an open letter signed by nearly 500 doctors, telling schools and parents
that masking is “simply the most important thing we can do right now to ensure that our schools are safe.”
A handful of districts have walked back recent decisions that would have given students and staff the choice to wear masks or not.
School boards in Green Bay and Appleton – which govern the state’s fourth- and sixth-largest districts, respectively – unanimously reversed previous plans and will require masks for all students and staff regardless of vaccination status. Districts in Oshkosh, Manitowoc, Neenah and Kimberly have done the same.
Still, many other schools have not required masks – though many parents feel a requirement is a commonsense measure to keep schools open and students, staff and families safe. They blame the widespread politicization and misinformation surrounding masks, promoted by loud parents and school board members.
Those parents describe being left in an unfathomable situation: Either they can send their kids to school – unvaccinated and surrounded by unmasked kids and teachers – and risk the health of their child and entire family. Or they could opt to keep them home for online learning again – an option that’s not ideal for many kids’ learning or feasible for working parents.
Jax Anderson held her breath for weeks this summer, hoping the Hortonville Area School District would have a change of heart and require masks. She desperately wanted to feel comfortable sending her 10-year-old daughter, Evelynn, to school in-person this fall.
By the time Anderson had to register for the next school year, though, that hadn’t happened. Weighing the options, Anderson decided she couldn’t bring herself to send Evelynn to school if it meant she’d become seriously ill or sicken someone else, and she enrolled her daughter in online school.
Anderson is not happy about the situation. While she’s grateful there’s an online-only option and their family can make it work, she knows it’s not a learning environment her daughter thrives in.
Over the last 18 months, Anderson’s daughter has missed her friends and socialization at school. From an academic standpoint, Anderson has felt online learning lacked the structure her daughter needs.
“It’s just not fair,” Anderson said. “Why are the kids and the families who are making healthy choices ending up being the ones punished for this?”
“These kids would rather be in school, even if they had to wear masks,” she said. “This isn’t about the kids, it’s about their parents.”
Though she isn’t a parent herself, Dominique Lee of Sheboygan knows that situation all too well.
Her mother, an immigrant, doesn’t speak English, so Lee has often played the role of co-parent to her younger sister, Nana. And she was the one who had to tell the 13-year-old she couldn’t return to her school, where masks are optional, and would instead attend a virtual charter school.
Lee knew it would be hard for her sister – her mental health has suffered in isolation, and virtual learning another year won’t help.
But she thought it was the right decision, because getting COVID is more than a health risk for her family – it’s also a financial risk. Lee is the family’s breadwinner and she knows they couldn’t afford her sister, or another member of their family, being hospitalized.
Lee didn’t realize how distraught her sister would become, though. Now, Nana will stay at her school, despite her family’s concerns.
This, Lee said, is a position she and other caretakers should never have been in.
“These school boards are forcing us families to make these really hard decisions when we could just follow the science and do what’s best for our families and our communities,” Lee said. “That’s their job.”
Jaclyn McKay, the parent of two girls, an incoming 4-year-old kindergartner and second grader, is frustrated the Oak Creek-Franklin school district hasn’t made what she sees as the responsible call.
McKay said that the district doesn’t have a defined plan, such as looking at infection rates or community disease burden to make decisions about masking and quarantining. It’s particularly frustrating, McKay said, because other nearby school districts that aren’t requiring masks at least have plans to reassess throughout the year, based on data.
“It just seems like a lack of foresight and planning,” McKay said. “I really, really think that school districts, at least for the younger students, should follow the recommendations of the health agencies we have to guide us as a country, as a community.”
For Emily Tseffos, Appleton’s recent decision to require masks felt like a massive weight lifted off her shoulders, given a member of her family is immunocompromised and at great risk of serious complications from COVID.
A month before school was set to start, she dreaded having to “break their hearts” by telling them that they’d have to stay home – her daughter had picked out the dress she would wear for the first day of first grade, and her son was eager to fill his new backpack with supplies for 4-year-old kindergarten.
She’s grateful that the school board’s decision spared her those conversations.
On the other hand, though, Tseffos said, her heart breaks for parents in other districts where masks remain optional, who “look forward to this school year with anxiety rather than excitement.”
“It seems some elected leaders in this area are ignoring the scientific data we know will keep students safely in school,” she said.