by Scott Jentsch

One of the agenda items on the July 26, 2021 School Board Meeting was "Discuss/approve Recommended Re-entry Planning and Mitigation Efforts." The Board was to discuss and likely approve the Superintendent's plan for the upcoming school year in regards to COVID-19-related issues.

The following is a transcript of my Privilege of the Floor address to the School Board:

I’m here tonight for the same reason that I was here a year ago, and that is to advocate for the safety and well-being of our students and staff. Contrary to what some have said earlier this year, I am not against opening our schools nor am I looking to subject anyone to restrictions that are unnecessary.

As is tradition here, we have no idea what is going to be presented tonight and you’re forcing us to comment now instead of after that presentation, so I have no way to tailor my comments based on that.

With that in mind…

In order to enter this building, we all had to complete a health survey, so that’s a clear sign that we are not yet completely out of the woods.

I am still of the opinion that if we are going to open schools to students, we need to make sure that our students and the staff that serves them are taken care of. We need to be clear to everyone involved how things will be done, with the confidence that those steps are being done with a sound medical basis.

Waukesha County, Wisconsin, and many other parts of the country are seeing an uptick in COVID-19 infections, largely as a result of the stalled vaccination rates and variants that result from continued spread of the virus. Even though it is possible for vaccinated individuals to contract the virus, the majority of serious cases are happening in the unvaccinated. Considering that no one under 12 can yet be vaccinated, this directly affects every student at Orchard Lane, Poplar Creek, Ronald Reagan, and Elmwood Elementary.

I think we need to seriously consider the guidance for schools from the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics, which say that masks should be worn by unvaccinated individuals and other mitigation strategies such as physical distancing continue to be followed. I think everyone is looking forward to the upcoming school year looking much better than the previous one, and the best way for us to ensure the best outcome for everyone is for medical guidance to be followed and for us not to take our eyes off what’s most important, and that is the safety of our children, teachers, and other staff.

In addition to various mitigation strategies, please consider taking steps to encourage continued diligence in the student population, their families, and the community at large.

By working together for the common good, we can continue to enjoy less restrictions, more social activities, and a healthier school community.

In this address, I reiterated my call to protect the safety of the students, teachers, and other staff in our schools by following the guidance of the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics, which said that unvaccinated individuals should wear masks indoors and that other measures, including physical distancing, be done. This is consistent with my position last summer, when I called for the School Board to insist on following safety guidelines, including the wearing of masks.

The Board voted 5-1 to approve the plan presented by Superintendent Joe Garza that removes nearly all COVID-19 mitigation measures (health questionnaires, masks, plexiglas, physical distancing, etc.). Mitch Helmer went one step further and introduced an amendment to remove the need for health surveys for visitors to the school buildings, which was part of the approved plan. An unknown number of people, with unknown vaccination or health status will be allowed into our school buildings, with no accountability or tracking of their health status at all.

The reasoning given for removing all the safety precautions was that we didn't have any serious cases during the school year (while all mitigation strategies were in place), and none were reported during the 11 days at the end of the school year when the mask mandate was removed. The lapse in logic is astounding, as using an experience when mitigation measures were in place to predict what will happen in the absence of mitigation measures, wouldn't pass a middle school science class assignment. The new Delta variant that we're dealing with now is much more serious and fast-spreading, especially among the unvaccinated population. and it wasn't as much of a factor at the end of the school year.

I think it is a mistake to disregard guidance from medical institutions that represent much more knowledge and expertise than any of us can gain by watching YouTube videos and discussing the issue with our friends on Facebook.

Our School Board and our Superintendent are choosing to risk the health and safety of our students in order to have things "back to normal" and "convenient" again.

I hope that the decision made on Monday night will not cause problems. I hope that their decision does not cause even one student or teacher/staff member to contract this disease, which can have serious and deadly consequences.

I would love for that to be the case, and that no one is impacted by this disease when it could have been prevented.

Even if that ends up being the case, I still believe that the School Board made the wrong decision because of the logic (or lack thereof) used in making that decision. How a decision is made is just as important as the decision itself.

Last Updated: Aug 2, 2021 - Archived on Dec 31, 2022

Resources

• SDNBs 2021-22 Fall Re-Entry Plan - July 26, 2021

  Presentation given by Superintendent Joe Garza to the School Board on July 26, 2021. This plan was later approved by a vote of 5-1.

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