School board reinstates mask policy

Decision takes authority away from superintendent, surprising some members after vote
By: 
Lee Pulaski
City Editor

Decisions over masking policies and whether to keep school open or go virtual have community members and officials with the Gresham School District incredibly frustrated.

The Gresham School Board approved reinstating the mask policy it had in place last year on Sept. 13, but a couple of board members quickly had buyers’ remorse after realizing the policy left the decision on masking mandates in the hands of the board itself.

Last month, before the policy was reinstated, the board voted to give Superintendent Newell Haffner the authority to decide whether masking was required. Since then, the district has said that masking is strongly recommended but not mandatory. However, the board rescinded the decision at board member Doug Huck’s insistence it needed to do so because of the new policy.

“This is not about Mr. Haffner’s ability or my trust in him at all,” Huck said. “We need to be masked. It’s a minimal, minimal safety measure to keep kids in school. That’s been the whole goal of this thing. We want the kids in school five days a week.”

However, that goal was put in jeopardy this week when Haffner announced the district was going virtual for at least Sept. 14 while waiting on COVID-19 test results. There were at least four confirmed positive cases within the school at the time of the board meeting, but the district’s contact tracing indicates there could be other cases.

Children in fifth grade and below were expected to come back on Sept. 15, as there is no approved vaccine for those younger than 12 years. Vaccinated students in grades 6-12 could also return that day, according to Haffner.

That set parents off and brought almost two dozen to the board meeting, angry that the promises of keeping school in-person five days a week appeared to be disintegrating. Parent Ethan Schmidt felt the board should have had better plans that didn’t require students to go to virtual learning so early in the school year.

“You guys said it was a ‘massive outbreak,’” Schmidt said. “What is a massive outbreak? Is it actual confirmed cases? Is it mass amounts of kids out because of close contacts? You left it broad.”

Jen Brady, another parent, said she has sent written correspondence asking what the school’s plans were in case of an outbreak and has received no reply. She also expressed disdain for the fact that vaccinated middle school and high school students can return later in the week but unvaccinated must remain out.

“I think this is being blown way out of proportion as far as all of a sudden we are now sending these kids home,” Brady said. “I’m tired of the sob stories of the COVID cases. I understand COVID is deadly for some; I’m not denying that fact whatsoever. But that’s all I hear at these meetings. It’s not affecting the kids the way that it is adults.”

Parent Amber Fischer was also upset because her child is among those having to be quarantined, but she can’t find out who her child was potentially exposed to.

“Yet you’re demanding my kid has to have a vaccine and show that vaccine card on Wednesday,” Fischer said. “How is that right? This is a tiny school. No other school district in Shawano County is having these problems.”

Not all of the parents disagreed with the decision to close school for a day. Heather Wilber said she was not willing to risk the life of her child, who is 11 and can’t get vaccinated, and she knows at least five people who have died from the virus.

“What it comes down to is humanity, protecting everybody,” Wilber said. “You’re saying this is a small school. You’re darn right it is, and that’s exactly why every child should at least wear masks. I’m not saying you should get your child vaccinated by any means, if you don’t want to, but we should want to protect all of our children.”

Board member Joe Ejnik, who sits on the personnel and policy committee and was the lone vote against rescinding the Aug. 16 vote giving Haffner the ability to make the call on masking, said that the committee had recommended the policy with the understanding that Haffner and his staff could make the call on behalf of the board.

“Three weeks ago, we were saying how good a job Newell was doing and let him make the decision,” Ejnik said. “Now we’re coming back and saying Newell’s not good enough to do it. That’s my problem.”

Board member Marge Eberhard, another member of the committee, said that circumstances changed since then, with additional positive cases coming to light.

“The board changes its mind with the information it receives,” Eberhard said, to which Ejnik retorted, “Weekly?”

Board member Pat Pleshek noted that Haffner is the face of the school, the person parents deal with regularly when there are changes and issues within the school. Although he voted to rescind the Aug. 16 vote, Pleshek said he felt it wasn’t right to take that responsibility away from the school’s leader and having the board, which only meets twice a month, make the decisions instead.

“I feel I got snookered because I thought that this was going with the Aug. 16 policy to give him permission,” Pleshek said. “I voted without that clarity.”

Community members expressed anger at the decision, with one parent vowing to pull her three children out of the school and send them to Shawano.


lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com