Board Of Education President Gives No Time-Frame For Return To Public Attendance At Meetings

I reached out to the Appleton Area School District Board of Education and asked them what the time-frame was for a return to in-person public attendance at meetings. I also asked them if they had consulted with the City of Appleton about how the city has been able to successfully manage in-person public attendance at their meetings for many months sometimes in cases where attendance is substantial.

It would appear that there is no time-frame for a return to public attendance at Board of Education meetings. Per Board President Kay Eggert, “We will continue to review and evaluate all of our COVID-19 protocols and mitigation measures, in conjunction with our school nurses, public health officials, and medical advisors, taking into consideration the recommendations of the Wisconsin DHS and the CDC.”

When I asked her if she could point me to the specific CDC and DHS guidance she was referencing, she sent me the link to the CDC’s guidelines on K-12 schools which nowhere indicates it applies to outside-of-school-hours government meetings predominantly attended by adults. She also linked to the DHS guidelines regarding “Staying Safe In Your Community”. [These guidelines appear to me to be directed at individuals not organizations per se and they clearly state, “there’s no way to assign risk levels to certain actions.” ]

In answer to my question regarding whether the district had consulted with the City of Appleton on how to successfully manage in-person public attendance of meetings, she indicated that they had consulted with the City of Appleton about live streaming meetings, but she said nothing about AASD having consulted with the city on how to successfully manage in-person participation. I took this to mean they had not talked to the city about that. When I emailed Ms. Eggert to confirm my understanding was accurate, she did not respond.

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