GREEN BAY, WI (WLUK) — Green Bay’s school board has decided to wait until after teachers can be vaccinated, before returning students to in-person classes.
But a group of parents says the timing of that likely isn’t soon, and they’ve sent the school board a counter proposal to get students back in classrooms faster.
“I tell you what: at times, it’s comical, but it makes us cry at the same time,” parent Jason Bergstrom said.
“It’s a lot more politicking than it is about our students,” parent Brook Andrews added.
Bergstrom and Andrews were discussing Tuesday night’s Green Bay school board meeting, when a plan to begin returning students to classrooms by mid-February was voted down.
“That was a large part of what was debated in that first motion that came forward at the board table… looking for a specific date that we get kids back to school quicker,” Green Bay Area Public School District Superintendent Stephen Murley told Good Day Wisconsin. “The board discussed a lot of pros and cons to that, and, like I said, in the end that vote wound up not passing, resulting in that second proposal.”
A group of parents sent the school board a counter-proposal to get students back in the classroom sooner, and have them stay there longer. But they say board members did not acknowledge it. The president of the school board, Eric VandenHeuvel, says they’ve received dozens of proposals and are taking all feedback into consideration.
“These board meetings are idea deserts, they kick the can down the line. Education is suffering,” Bergstrom said.
“First it was gating criteria, now it’s this uncertainty about the vaccine, they just keep kicking the can,” Andrews said. “What makes Green Bay area public schools teachers so much more special than the other surrounding districts that have teachers in-person teaching their children. Why do our teachers need to have a vaccine?”
Parents say students should be given the option of in-person learning, and they’re demanding a date of when it can start.
“They keep finding a way to push and push to keep planning from happening,” Bergstrom said.
“We have to stop finding reasons why it can’t work and start looking towards reasons why it can,” Andrews said.
“They are doing a lot of deep listening, they are hearing all members of the community that are contacting them; and they’re trying to take that into consideration as they try to make their decisions. And of course, their decisions are predicated on what they feel is best for the 21,000 students in the school district,” Murley concluded.
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