Colfax school board keeps “back to school” plan in place until the end of the school year
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — With 8.5 days of school left, the Colfax Board of Education decided to continue requiring masks to be worn in the buildings and on school buses.
More than 50 people attended the school board’s May 17 meeting, and of the 13 who spoke during the public comments portion of the meeting, nine were in favor of making masks optional.
Courtney Brockmiller, a registered nurse, said masks are made for one-time use, are not used properly at school, and that her young son suffers from fear, dread and anxiety after wearing a mask all day and that she feels like a terrible mother.
John Scharlau presented a petition to the school board that had been signed by children about making masks optional.
With the numbers of COVID-19 cases decreasing in Wisconsin, with vaccines being available, added in with the fact that there’s no need to worry about children getting sick, and with a recovery rate of 99 percent, students in the district should not have to wear a mask, he said.
Later on, Ken Bjork, school board member, said he had talked to one of the students who had signed the petition and that the student thought it pertained to making masks optional for the next school year.
Rose Lewis, who recently moved into the school district from the Twin Cities and is originally from Prairie Farm, said she was concerned about children and that masks breach civil liberties.
Denise Solberg, who said she is on the staff at the Colfax school district, objected to the SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and said children are more at risk from dying of influenza than of COVID-19.
“Those who opt out (of vaccines) are not interested in being protected by the health department,” she said.
The health department is pressuring the school district to over-react, Solberg said.
Tom Hendrickson said he affirmed all that had been said by previous speakers and that masks should be an option.
Staying open
Stephanie Ulcej, who teaches art in the Colfax school district, said she believed it would not have been possible to keep school open all year long without masks.
Ulcej noted she has had fewer respiratory infections this year because of the masks and that her students seem to be suffering fewer respiratory infections as well.
Melissa Prince, who is in her 23rd year of teaching kindergarten in the Colfax school district, said she, too, believes masks have worked to keep school open.
With nine days of school left, the school board should “stay the course,” Prince said.
Melissa Seehaver teaches first grade in the Colfax school district and said she has heard the comment more than once that “Colfax must be doing something right to stay open.”
The school district developed a plan to be open for in-person learning five days per week, and the students have not complained about masks in class, she said.
Maintaining a mask requirement “is not about control, it’s about safety,” Seehaver said.
Mark Mosey, who has taught high school biology in the school district for 31 years, said the district had developed a plan that was thorough and consistent and that the plan had worked throughout the school year.
Being allowed to have an outdoor classroom so the students could take “mask breaks” also was helpful, Mosey said.
Facts
Amy Black said it was “not healthy” for children “to be taught this way.”
Black said when her children have a stomach ache or a headache, they are afraid to say they do not feel well because they are afraid they will have to get a COVID test and noted that her children have stayed home from school when they need a break.
Kevin Snyder said teachers should not be allowed to manipulate the thought processes of children.
Rich Jenson, who noted that he attended school in Colfax, said he objected to the indoctrination of political beliefs in school, that political beliefs are based on opinion and teachers should teach facts and not beliefs.
Report
During his COVID-19 update to the Board of Education, William C. Yingst Jr., district administrator, spoke about a report from Terri Ruff, school nurse.
According to Ruff’s report, in the 2020-2021 school year, there were fewer student absences than in the previous two school years, even during a pandemic.
Here is some of the other information in Ruff’s report:
• No cases of influenza were reported this school year, while 42 cases of influenza were reported in 2019-2020.
• There were 803 fewer days of student illness related absences this year than in 2018-2019.
• There were 694 fewer days of student illness related absences this year than in 2019-2020 when the school year was cut short by 43 days due to statewide school closure.
Moving forward
The question now is — how to move forward to recovery, said KT Gallagher, director of Dunn County Health Department and the county’s health officer.
The day of the Board of Education meeting, there were 27 active cases of COVID-19 in Dunn County, the lowest number in a long time, she said.
Non-pharmaceutical interventions, such as wearing masks and physical distancing, have helped bring the numbers of cases down. People being vaccinated has helped as well, Gallagher said, adding that she believes vaccination for SARS-CoV-2 will soon be like vaccinations for other diseases, such as measles and whooping cough.
At the time of the school board meeting, one-third of Dunn County residents were vaccinated, which is one of the lowest vaccination rates in the state. Dunn County ranks in the bottom quartile for vaccinations, Gallagher said.
Gallagher urged the school district to maintain the non-pharmaceutical interventions.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will most likely update school guidance within a month, she said.
In schools, the transmission of the coronavirus has not been seen as much in classrooms, but rather, has been more of a problem in extracurricular activities, such as sports, and in other areas, such as speech therapy, Gallagher said.
Harm reduction
Once again, as has been the case for the past 10 months, the Board of Education is reviewing the back to school plan/district harm reduction plan that includes the mask order, Yingst said.
“There was no map for this,” he said.
Last July, administrators and school staff began working on a plan to have five-day per week in-person instruction in the Colfax school district, Yingst said.
The school board sets policy, and the administration follows the policy, and it is not a political issue, he said.
Everything the school district has done has revolved around safety, and it has not been an easy task for the teachers, the principals, the district administrator or other school employees, Yingst said.
“Safety has been the (basis) of everything,” he said.
The teachers are in the classroom every day. The students are in the classroom every day. And no one likes wearing masks, he said.
Last summer, a survey of parents in the district revealed that 95 percent of them wanted school to be open in the fall for five-day per week in-person instruction, Yingst said.
Yingst pointed out that when Colfax came forward with a plan for five-day a week in-person instruction, he had been told that Colfax would not be open past September 30. Then he was told the school district would not be open past October. Then it was Thanksgiving. Then it was Christmas, and then after January 1, the school district would have to shut down.
“Month to month, Colfax is still open. May 17 — and Colfax is still open,” Yingst said.
Some schools in the state were open only part of the time. Some had to close after they had started with in-person instruction. Some waited until after the first of the year to open. Some schools offered hybrid instruction. Some schools offered part-time in-person instruction, he said.
Colfax also has been able to provide athletic and extracurricular activities all year, Yingst said.
Work
The school board’s job is to make policy, said Todd Kragness, president of the Board of Education.
Many people do not realize how much work the administration, teachers and other school staff went through to keep school open all year long, he said.
No one likes wearing masks, but the pandemic is not over. Only one-third of the state has been vaccinated, Kragness noted.
“What we’ve done with leadership has kept school open,” he said.
“Why change policy for eight and a half days?” asked Ken Neuburg, school board member.
The policy should continue for the balance of the school year, he said.
Noting the number of people who attended the May 17 meeting, Neuburg pointed out that when the Colfax school board shared the back-to-school plan with the community last August, only three people attended the meeting.
The safety of students and staff is paramount, he said.
School board member Jaclyn Ackerlund noted she “is a mom with two kids in school.”
At all of the school board meetings this year, there has been one goal — to keep school open, she said, adding that she perhaps had a little more incentive than other school board members because she did not want to have to do virtual learning with two teenagers.
“We have kept the doors open,” Ackerlund said.
“I’m proud as a board member. I’m thankful as a mom. With eight and a half days left, I do not want to see the policy change,” she said.
More soap
People want to know the plan and how to get there, said Kyle Knutson, school board member.
Knutson said he would like to see that masks are optional when the students return to school in the fall.
Some parents want the masks gone, and some parents want the masks to remain, and there are eight and a half days left of school, he said.
The amount of effort to keep school open is reflected by the fact that the school district has gone through two additional pallets of paper towel this year and eight more cases of soap, Knutson said.
The school board has been reviewing the back-to-school plan as new information becomes available, Bjork said.
“I’m good with continuing for eight and a half days,” he said.
School board member Jodi Kiekhafer, who was suffering from laryngitis and could not speak for very long, said she wears a mask all day at work and would like to give up the masks “as much as anyone” but did not want to change the policy.
Andrew De Moe, school board member, said he agreed, too, about not changing the policy with only eight and a half days left of school and that he was looking forward to next fall and hoping that no one will have to wear a mask.
The school board has reviewed the harm reduction plan every month since last August, Kragness said.
The Colfax school district was unable to have graduation last year, and this year, there will be an in-person graduation. Students have been able to participate in sports, and parents have been able to watch sports, he said.
“We should not give up now with eight and a half days left,” Kragness said.
The Colfax Board of Education unanimously approved a motion to continue masking until the end of the school year on buses and inside the school buildings, with masks being optional outside.
The Colfax Board of Education meets next on June 21.
Other business
In other business, the Colfax Board of Education:
• Approved a list of summer school staff for the 2021 Colfax summer school program, including a list of summer school bus drivers.
• Approved a list of swimming staff for the 2021 Colfax summer program, including swimming instructors, aides and bus drivers.
• Approved open enrollment applications for the 2021-2022 school year. The deadline was April 30 at 4 p.m.
• Approved Student Assurance Services as the sports insurance provider for students. The insurance covers athletes in school sports, and there is no increase in the premium this year, Yingst said.
• Approved bids procured through CESA 11’s food service bidding for milk and bread with Kemps and Bimbo Bakeries. The milk prices have increased by one cent per half pint for one percent white milk, skim white milk and chocolate skim milk. The bread prices have increased by 25 cents for a 24-count package of whole grain steak buns; have increased by 34 cents for a 16-count package of whole grain coney buns; and have increased by 73 cents per 30-count package of whole grain hamburger buns.
• Approved hiring Nichelle Wollberg as the high school biology teacher and Brittany Halvorson-Canfield as the sixth grade science teacher. Both teachers are graduates of Colfax High School. Both teachers are great candidates, and both had a life goals to be a teacher in Colfax, Yingst said. Prior to coming to Colfax, Wollberg has taught in New Richmond and in Holcombe. Halvorson-Canfield has served as a high school science teacher at McDonell Area Catholic Schools in Chippewa Falls.