Gresham school goes back to mask mandate

Board to look at new plan that would require masks at certain number of cases reached
By: 
Lee Pulaski
City Editor

The issue of whether masks should be required in Gresham Community School divided the Gresham School Board on Jan. 10, but a new mandate was put into place for at least two weeks.

Originally, board members who sought the mandate wanted to put it into effect for at least six weeks, through Feb. 21, but the measure saw pushback from other members of the board, community members and even the staff, with some expressing disappointment that such action was being taken even though there was clear consensus from local and state health officials that the Christmas break and families gathering together was the cause of a sudden spike in cases throughout Wisconsin last week.

Instead, the board voted 5-2 to require masks through Jan. 24, when the next board meeting is scheduled to take place, and the board will look at recommendations presented by Superintendent Newell Haffner to establish benchmarks for when to mask or not mask.

Board member Marge Eberhard said her intent on having the mandate go into February was to allow for establishing a pattern of a downward trend in COVID-19 cases. She felt it was necessary to keep the school open and prevent it from having to go to virtual learning, a setup that has been made very difficult for rural school districts where broadband internet access is at a premium.

“In two weeks, we may see a decrease or an increase, but we won’t see a pattern,” Eberhard said. “I chose the period of time to continue seeing decreasing cases and quarantines.

The latest COVID-19 statistics from the school show 12 active cases last week, with 25 total students and staff being quarantined. The week before, the district recorded four positive cases but didn’t record quarantines because the school was on break for the holidays.

Board member Joe Ejnik, who voted against mandates both on Jan. 10 and back in September when the board initially voted to require masks, accused board members of hitting the panic button, noting that the omicron variant is being described as more transmissible but less lethal than other strains of COVID-19. He also noted recent reports that showed the cloth masks many were wearing at the meeting were “useless” against stopping the spread of the virus and that the school would need to invest in N95 masks for the requirement to have any real effect.

“If you look at the (Wisconsin) Department of Health Services and the flow charts, they mimic each other (whether masked or unmasked) except for little blips for all the schools that are optional,” Ejnik said. “We just keep doing circles right now. Are we going to set exceptions for policy from now on, or are we going to set them on what we were put here to do? If we’re going to set them on exceptions, to me that ain’t right, because then we’re taking the few and abusing our power.”

Haffner, who was speaking to the board remotely after testing positive for COVID-19, noted that the big increase in positive numbers was “screwy” because the cases were mainly confined to two large families in the area. He expressed concern that requiring masks would hurt morale at the school, noting that at least 80% of students and most of the staff chucked the masks once they were no longer required.

“How can we force this stuff on them anymore?” Haffner said. “I did what I was supposed to, and I still got it, so we’re not going to stop it right now (with masking).”

Haffner plans to present a plan where the requirement to mask or not mask can be set weekly dependent on the percentage of students and staff are confirmed to be positive for COVID-19. He noted 1% would constitute four cases, while seven cases would be at 2%. It will be up to the board where to set the benchmark.

Shawano School District implemented something similar earlier in the year, although the benchmarks were specific numbers of students and not percentages. For elementary and middle schools, there would have to be at least five positive cases to require masking in the school, and nine cases to require it at the high school.

Gresham parent Ethan Schmidt chastised the board for going back on action taken in November to follow the Centers for Disease Control guidelines, which still “recommend” masks be worn in indoor spaces, especially where there are large groups. To suddenly decide to require masks seemed to be going back against what they’d promised.

“What we’re doing here at school isn’t the problem,” Schmidt said. “It’s what happens outside this building. I think the board needs to come to the realization that COVID is not going to go away once everyone is vaccinated or herd immunity is here. It’s here to stay like the flu. You, the board, need to prepare for how we can move forward and not when something happens run back to masks or the second agenda item, which is virtual meetings.”

The board took no action on going to virtual meetings, with board members believing the distancing measures in the school gymnasium were sufficient to keep board meetings in person.


lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com