DE PERE, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The West De Pere school district made the decision last week to return to in-person learning Monday.
Prior to Monday night’s school board meeting, a group of students protested the plan.
West De Pere superintendent Dennis Krueger tells FOX 11 students still have options.
“The students have choices. They can participate in remote learning as well.”
The district made the decision Thursday. The decision was upheld at a special meeting Saturday.
The De Pere Health Department said in a statement Friday that it did not advise any schools to conduct in-person learning.
In a letter to families, the district said studies show schools in session are not significant contributors to the community spread of COVID-19.
West De Pere senior Maria Miller tells FOX 11 the district isn’t hearing the students’ concerns.
“We feel like we haven’t gotten really any representation so far and we feel like it’s just not a safe decision for us to be back here today.”
Miller is one of the organizers of the protest outside the board meeting.
Miller says she understands the district made a decision, but just wants her voice to be heard.
“We want more representation on our board, and we want people to be able to step into students’ shoes and understand what it’s like to be a student during a pandemic.”
The district does not currently have established criteria to move between learning models.
Some teachers, like Natalie Buhl, find it difficult to plan ahead.
“We really need some sense of what to expect. We know that we might be changing to another scenario in another week or back again in two weeks, but we don’t know why. The why of it is still unclear.”
Superintendent Krueger says it’s a work in progress.
“We know that there are one or two districts in the area that have some metrics, one recently released. We’re looking at and building metrics, and we’ve been looking at it for a while.”
Krueger says the school has also upped the availability of PPE for students and staff.
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