GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – All Green Bay students will be required to mask up as they head back to the school this fall. That decision was made during a special school board meeting Wednesday night.
You can watch the full meeting here:
Previously, masking was required for students 3K through sixth grade. Masking was optional for students in seventh through twelfth grade. That is no longer the case, at least for now.
Effective August 23rd, 2021, face coverings for all students, staff, visitors, and contractors shall be:
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Required inside all district buildings and premises, and district-provided transportation.
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Optional when outside on district premises.
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As determined by district administration for the district’s student co-curricular activities
School board members like Laura Laitinen-Warren realize it’s not the most popular decision for some.
“People I spoke with today were not in full trust of the CDC, or in some cases, were not in full trust of anything that the government endorsed,” Laitinen-Warren said. “In discussing this with the people I talked with, it seems that there’s just going to be a differing world view of people that maybe trust the CDC recommendation and those that don’t.”
But she says there was a common ground to be found with at least one of the constituents she spoke with.
“At least give something that people can look forward to within the motion,” Laitinen-Warren added. “Can we come to some sort of common ground in something that everybody can look to, to feel like we’re going to get back to some sort of normalcy in the near future? And as a community, can start being kind in civil to one another on a regular basis again?”
Board member Andrew Becker provided that opportunity with a proposed amendment.
“If we can get a substantial reduction that we would have some kind of, preferably a trigger, to automatically change modes. But I’d be okay with triggering an automatic board meeting to review,” he said. “From the beginning, I’ve preferred for this to be more COVID metrics driven. I don’t like people, whatever their opinion is about masking, to be bounced around like this.”
An amendment was also added, allowing that automatic trigger for another special meeting to consider removing masks once Brown County falls below the seven-day average of 100 cases per 100,000 people.
Only one board member voted against the idea of a trigger.
“It seems like we’re just holding to get it down just enough so we can go again and then it seems like, well then it comes back,” said Nancy Welch. “Education is just too important. We need to really get this totally.”
There was no public comment at Wednesday’s special board meeting.
The special board meeting was called to discuss COVID-19 Related Mask Requirements for students, staff, visitors and contractors. The special board meeting came just two days following the district’s operations committee meeting Monday night. Parents spoke either in favor or against previous masking guidelines.
Discussion over quarantine length and necessity for students exposed to COVID-19 is expected to be discussed at the next meeting on September 13th.
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