Waupaca votes to make masks optional
By Robert Cloud
Controversy seldom erupts during Waupaca School Board meetings.
Meetings usually open with school board members reading seven norms.
Those norms were tested during two special board meetings on Thursday, May 20, and Friday, May 21.
School board norms
During the reading of the norms, Pat Phair, school board vice president, suggested the board skip reading No. 2: “Ensure open and clear communications, and maintain transparency – no surprises,” and No. 6: “When a Board decision is made, we accept and abide by the decisions both publicly and privately – we accomplish more united than divided.”
“I was personally surprised by everything that happened last night,” Phair said, regarding the May 20 meeting.
He also questioned a survey that was sent out to parents, students and staff.
“I’m still not sure who was behind that or why, and more importantly, I don’t know what the results of that were designed to do,” Phair said. “By the time it got to the board, it had already been put out to the community.”
Phair said the board had not had the opportunity to provide input on the survey prior to its release.
During public input at the May 20 meeting, the survey had been a major issue.
The survey asked, “Do you agree with allowing face masks to be optional for this upcoming summer school (starting June 14)?”
Among parents, 311 (69%) said yes to optional masks and 66 (33%) said no.
Among students, 263 (73%) said yes, while 85 (24%) said no to optional masks.
Among staff, 129 (65%) said yes and 133 (30%) said no.
Phair argued that the school board has been following the advice of its medical team since the beginning of the pandemic.
Now, the board is changing its protocols based on public pressure, Phair said.
“Next fall, when we open the school district, are we going to ask our medical people for advice or should we just send out a survey to our parents to see how we should do it?” Phair asked. “If I was a member of the medical group who are monitoring all the information and a representative of the School District of Waupaca came in looking for information after what’s happened in this district, I would look very much at them and say – and you can all close your ears if you want – but go f*** yourself.”
Phair then criticized the board for not following its own norms.
Noting that when the board makes a decision, all members should accept it both privately and publicly, he said some members of the board “tried to reverse it.”
“I’m an elected official, you’re elected officials, we have to make difficult decisions at times,” Phair said. “We don’t reverse those difficult decisions just because some people who are loudmouthed in our community think that we should.”
He also questioned why special board meetings had been called.
Johnson responds
School Board President Steve Johnson said he requested the special board meeting.
“I called it because in the past the board has asked for information coming from the administration, medical teams, business office, etc.,” Johnson said. “I became aware that the medical team was recommending the possibility of the ‘moving masks’ concept. That was something, to my knowledge, that was brought to the board for their consideration in the past.”
Johnson said he felt a responsibility to ensure board members heard what the medical staff was suggesting.
“If that was an error, then I accept that as being an error,” Johnson said. “I would rather, in my estimation, have information like that brought to the board.”
Johnson also noted the board’s response to the covid pandemic has required a “level of fluidity.”
Klismet, Feldt respond
New school board member Steve Klismet said if the board was going to practice transparency in its communications, “We have to listen to the teachers.”
Klismet said parents have been asking him why they are not being heard when it comes to policies.
He also questioned the notion of relying exclusively on medical expertise.
“As far as doctors, two months ago I had a doctor tell me he was going to cut my leg off. I went to another doctor, I’m walking,” Klismet said. “So, a doctor’s perspective, I take that for what it is. I respect their opinion, but that’s what it is, an opinion.”
“Patrick, I’m a little disappointed that you’re accusing board members of coming together to try to overturn a decision. Nobody did that,” said board member Dale Feldt. “I’m about ready to get up and walk out right now because of those accusations that you made against this board.”
Polebitski responds
“I will accept this (decision), but I’m not happy with how we got here,” board member Mark Polebitski said.
Polebitski questioned the notion that the majority of people opposed the district’s mask protocols.
“Everyone knew my take on the masks,” Polebitski said, regarding the results of the recent school board election. “I let them know. And the two anti-mask candidates were in last place. That hasn’t changed.”
Polebitski said the majority of the community appreciates the school district’s covid response.
“Because a bunch of angry people showed up last night and we have to change our vote from a week before,” Polebitski said. That’s ludicrous.”
Manion responds
Board member Betty Manion said she found the level of disrespect “pretty appalling and disappointing.”
“This board is being attacked like nothing I’ve ever seen in all my years here,” Manion said. “This could be the demise of a lot of good that’s gone on.”
Manion said the only real change that came from the May 20 meeting was students would not be wearing masks in the hallways.
The board was already considering changes in the district’s mask protocols, whereby masks would not have been required in classrooms where students were seated at least 3 feet apart or while they were outdoors.
Manion said she felt the survey gave people the misconception that the majority won in the mask issue.
Parents criticize mask mandate
By Robert Cloud
Parents spent nearly an hour on May 20 telling the Waupaca School Board they wanted masks to be optional.
By a vote of 5-1, the board decided to make masks optional inside school buildings, beginning June 9.
Mark Polebitski voted against making masks optional. Board member Pat Phair, who was on vacation, was absent.
“I am completely against the idea of my kids being required to wear a mask,” parent Brent Liebe told the board. “You should not have the ability to dictate the choices that my family makes.”
Liebe pointed to the Supreme Court decision, Tinker v. Des Moines, which ruled in favor of students’ constitutional right to free speech, as long as they were not disrupting instruction.
The issue involved students wearing armbands in protest against the Vietnam War.
“A student sitting in a classroom without a mask does not and has never disrupted class,” Liebe said.
He also noted the Wisconsin State Supreme Court ruled against the governor’s mask mandate.
“If a governor cannot lawfully force citizens to wear masks, you shouldn’t be able to either,” Liebe said.
Liebe pointed to the district’s recent survey that showed 69% of parents and 73% of students were in favor of masks being optional.
“Are you going to represent your community or your own agenda?” Liebe asked.
“Shame on you guys. I’m absolutely appalled by your decisions over the last few months,” said Joel Bartel, who ran unsuccessfully for the school board this spring. “All we want is to have the kids make their own decisions and their parents to have a say in their kids’ lives.”
Bartel asked the board why the high school could not hold commencement outdoors in the athletic field, noting that would allow more people to attend.
Sam Nikolai, the Waupaca High School Student Council president, asked what covid has to do with this year’s rule prohibiting graduating seniors from decorating their caps at commencement.
Local covid numbers dropping
Dr. Miriam Leean Rodenz, a Waupaca chiropractor, told the board 103 schools in Wisconsin have already made masks optional.
She noted Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has said the pandemic is not a homogenous situation.
Leean Rodenz said some areas have more people vaccinated, while other have fewer vaccinated.
Some areas have more cases, while other have fewer cases.
She said Waupaca County, with a population of 52,000, has recently been reporting an average of 2.2 new cases per day.
“We’re trying to mask our children in school for such a small percent,” Leean Rodenz said.
She also said masks are less effective than the ionization system the school district installed in the HVAC of every school building.
Another member of the audience told the board it needs to listen to the community and a minority was requiring the majority to wear masks against their will.
“If you’re not going to listen to us, we’ll do what is necessary,” he said.
One audience member said he planned to file a petition for a recall election.
Jason Liegl, a Weyauwega-Fremont teacher, said his school district has not lifted the mask mandate under the advice of the county health officer.
“The recommendation of the Department of Health right now is that until these kids are able to be vaccinated, it’s in the best interests for them for their health from covid, is by wearing a mask properly,” Liegl said.
Prior to the meeting, District Administrator Ron Saari made summer school recommendations to adopt a “moving mask” policy, which would not require students to wear masks if they are seated at least 6 feet apart in the classroom.
Students would be required to wear masks when inside and closer than 6 feet apart.
His plan, which would modify the mask policy set by the board on May 11, also shortened the quarantine to seven days with a test or 10 days without a test.
While school board member Betty Manion was trying to explain how staff and teachers worked long hours through the summer to make the schools safe and to educate students during an unprecedented pandemic, one man yelled, “No more masks!”
The board then voted to make masks optional during summer school.