Clintonville reopening plan questioned
By Bert Lehman
Parents and one student expressed their displeasure to the Clintonville School Board for its decision to open schools under a hybrid model of in-person and virtual learning.
Student Isaac Schultz led off public comments at the Aug. 24 meeting by saying he believes the district’s plan to open schools for the 2020-21 school year is unfair. He said according to a survey the district sent to families in the district, 80% of the families feel the district should offer in-person learning 4-5 days a week.
“It’s a huge slap in the face, it feels like we’re not being heard,” Schultz said. “This is unfair. What’s the point of sending out a survey if you’re not going to listen to us.”
Schultz said he is considering open enrollment to a different school district.
“We cannot live in fear,” Schultz said, as he asked the board to reconsider its opening plan.
Jennifer Willis, who is a mother of three students in the district, also said she wants students to be in school 4-5 days a week.
She questioned the reliability internet in the district as a problem with virtual learning.
Willis also noted that income of families’s incomes will be impacted because students are home more during virtual learning.
“We live in a rural, low-income community. This plan is hurting our families, it’s hurting our children,” Willis said.
She added, “Most households have returned to normal by now.”
“The reality is, our kids need to be back in school and I’m hoping you guys are willing to reconsider the vote,” Willis said.
Drew Lundt asked the board what the parameters are for each of the levels in the district’s opening plan.
“I hear a lot of opinions, and I don’t hear many facts,” Lundt said. “You guys have had since March and I just want to know what the plan is, so we can plan accordingly.”
Lundt said based on the school survey and discussion at the last school board meeting, he doesn’t think virtual learning will work in the district.
“We need a plan that works, and I understand that it’s not going to work for everybody, but when you’re talking 50-50, that’s the best you can come up with?” Lundt asked.
He added, “Don’t tell me that I have to pay taxes for a school building and teachers that I can’t use, because that’s what that vote did. You took away my choice. Now you’re asking me to decide, should I go to work or should I stay at home and make sure my kids do their jobs. And I can’t even sit home and do that because I don’t have the internet. … If that’s going to be an option everyone has to get a van and park it out in the parking lot, is that what you’re telling me because that will be a hotspot?”
Board asked to reconsider
Ray DePew, a parent in the district, said the board should listen to the public and reconsider its decision.
“You guys work for me. I am a taxpayer. I pay your wages,” DePew said. “It’s not the other way around.”
Eileen Lamm, the mother of a special needs child, told the board that when the district closed schools in March her child also shut down.
“I don’t know if you guys realize, but children shut down. They need to be around others. They need to learn,” Lamm said. “A child that does not get to see other children has no way to understand how to be around ones later on in life.”
Matt Malesa also requested the board change its decision on how to open the schools.
“The district ended last year as poorly as it possibly could have,” Malesa said. “So, I have a question, how are we going to make up for that, first of all, because our kids didn’t learn anything.”
He said the job of everyone in the district from the administrators to teachers is to educate kids.
“That’s the No. 1 job you have. It’s not the safety of our kids,” Malesa said.
He asked how the district’s curriculum would be adjusted to make up for last year, and to make sure the students in the Clintonville School District don’t fall behind students in districts that are offering in-person learning five days a week.
Malesa also questioned how the district cannot offer parents the choice to send their kids to school for in-person learning five days a week.
“I will continue to fight for my children to get the best education,” Malesa said.
Andrew Walker told the board that his daughter didn’t learn anything after the schools were shut down in March. Because of that he questioned the district’s plan to open schools this fall.
“Keeping kids at home not learning is not supporting us,” Walker said. “I think test scores are going to drop. I think ACT scores might possibly drop. I think kids will get nothing done this semester at all. I think it’s a waste.”
Jason Moder questioned how the New London School District, which isn’t far from the Clintonville School District can offer more days of in-person learning than the Clintonville School District.
“We’re cheating our children out of a quality education,” Moder said. “… Me as an employer, you’re cheating these kids in their future because the reality is, I don’t go out and hire uneducated people to do one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. I hire educated people. People that learn, not people that are behind. Now all these age groups of kids coming out of this district are already going to be behind.”
Dyb responds
Later in the meeting, Superintendent David Dyb addressed some of the parents’ concerns.
Since the beginning of June, each Monday Dyb said he meets virtually with all of the school superintendents in Waupaca County.
Information from the Waupaca County Health Services is shared at these meetings.
On Aug. 24, Dyb was on a call with state superintendents that also included representatives of the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.
“Of the over 400 school districts in Wisconsin, there’s not one superintendent in the state of Wisconsin that isn’t frustrated right now,” Dyb said.
After not receiving metrics from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, superintendents in Waupaca County put together their own plan regarding COVID-19 metrics in Waupaca County for school districts to consider.
“Your school superintendents in the county put our heads together to give the schools some guidance based upon statistics,” Dyb said.
He added, “Of the 400 school districts in the state of Wisconsin, as I mentioned before, every one of us, there’s no perfect plan. And with no guidance, no playbook for a pandemic, we’re left to do what we can. The biggest thing I can share with you out of those county meetings with the Waupaca County superintendents is that we do not want to pit school districts against school district. We’re neighbors. We’re partners. We share things. We do not want to pit one school district against another.”
Dyb said that parents for about 10 percent of the student base in the School District of Clintonville have requested all virtual learning for their children. Registration was still taking place at the time so that figure could change.