On 12/09 several AASD parents with medical backgrounds met with members of the school administration team and city government and laid out their case for school to be reopened with mitigation strategies in place.
The meeting consisted of the 4 parents, district Superintendent Judy Baseman, Assistant Superintendent Polly Vanden Boogaard, Board of Education President Kay Eggert, City of Appleton Health Officer Kurt Eggebrecht, Board of Health member Lee Vogel, and 2 school nurses.
One of the parents reports that the district does clearly want to move to providing some level of in-person instruction with the understanding that that will happen alongside intense mitigation strategies which both staff and students must adhere to. School leadership is particularly concerned about the possibility of students infecting teachers, and there are some teachers who are afraid to be in the classroom. There is no possibility of the district opening prior to their already announced date of 01/19/2021.
The parent’s impression was that Health Officer Kurt Eggebrecht does not think schools should open and would prefer they stay closed until coronavirus cases in the community are down to just a couple a week. However, it seemed that school leaders did not think waiting until that happened would be tenable.
The parent did believe school leaders genuinely appreciated their medical perspective, the facts they emphasized, and the spirit in which they came and hopes this meeting will be a good stepping stone toward moving forward.
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