Andrea Klitzke, a candidate running for a seat on the Appleton Area School District Board of Education, released a statement regarding the Board of Education’s decision on 01/10/2022 to extend the mask mandate until 02/17/2022.
January 13, 2022
On January 10th, the Appleton Area School District Board of Education reversed an established plan to work towards lifting the mask mandate, allowing families in the district to make their own choice regarding masking. The plan was to begin January 19th, allowing an option on masking to students in schools that fall below a 2% threshold for COVID positive cases. The board rescinded their vote and adjourned the meeting without establishing new standards for moving forward, despite the efforts of a couple of board members to clarify and set a plan.
A few elements about COVID are evident and consistent:
*The original coronavirus strain and variants have a 99% survival rate.
*The majority of children and the general population have mild symptoms or are asymptomatic to Omicron.
*Mental health professionals cannot serve children suffering from mental distress due to high demand for their services.Furthermore, we now understand:
*Children that are harmed psychologically and emotionally by mandated masking, also are experiencing decline academically.
*Hospitalization statistics have been inflated when comparing those hospitalized FOR COVID versus WITH COVID. In the midst of a medical crisis, hospital administration has taken jobs away from those desiring to exercise their right to choose regarding vaccination, which has led to fewer staffed beds in our hospitals.
*Cloth masks do not provide protection against Omicron.
*N95 masks reduce the chance of transmission by 11%, which seems to be of minimal benefit when considering the adverse effects we are seeing in children mentally and emotionally.
*AASD COVID positive case counts compared to local mask optional districts show insignificant/inconclusive differences that would not warrant implementing a mandate.While acknowledging that cloth masks more than likely do not protect against Omicron and noting the negative mental impact on our children, the board voted 6 to 1 to rescind their prior decision, extending the universal mask mandate until February 17th when it will be reassessed, and likely extended again due to no new criteria set for when mandates will be lifted. As with previous experiences, they’ll decide by what they’re feeling at that time.
During the initial vote at the November 22nd board meeting, board member Ed Ruffolo vocalized a reluctance to support the plan to move toward optional masking with a specific date in mind, stating concerns that something unpredicted could cause conditions to worsen by then. Board member Kay Eggert shared the same concern, but also understood the importance to move forward with establishing a specific goal and guidelines. James Bacon echoed the same concerns as Ed; concern for voting in favor to implement a plan that they would later change, increasing frustration for families and students. Ed Ruffolo proposed an amendment to the plan that would allow the board to look at other indicators in addition to the 2% threshold to offer more specific guidelines so that if circumstances aren’t ideal, there’s clarity as to what conditions would allow for optional masking immediately upon meeting established criteria.
Board member Jim Bowman listed positives for implementing the proposed district plan: knowing omicron doesn’t severely affect children or most people, having a baseline for how decisions will be made for masking, the availability of vaccines for children, knowing children will perform better academically, and a desire to “take a risk and just try it”.
After in depth discussion about staffing availability and other concerns, no one on the board voted to support Ed’s amendment to define additional criteria that he felt would be needed before allowing family choice for masking. The board instead voted to implement an optional masking policy beginning January 19th, with the understanding that 2% is a non-negotiable baseline for mitigation and the only standard they’d set. Families were notified of the board vote and were provided an alternative-to transfer to a virtual education model through either Wisconsin Connections Academy or Appleton E-school. 36 families made a difficult choice and transferred to virtual learning with the assumption that our district would be following guidelines to move toward a mask optional environment.
By January, the board lost sight of the ball and seemingly did not understand what they voted for back in November. The entire purpose of the initial vote was to set guidelines for moving toward a mask optional environment- something more sustainable for working toward a return to normalcy, based on the previously shared knowledge and “positives”, which has not changed. Yet, each board member (with the exception of James Bacon [nay], Kris Sauter [nay], and Deb Truyman [aye]) changed their original vote on implementing a plan to move forward from mandating masks for students with each board member stating their reasoning as being worried about staffing and wanting to do what physicians told them to; even if they don’t understand it. When Chief Human Resources Officer Julie King was asked whether the mask mandate seemed to affect people’s desire to substitute teach for us (we are only one of two districts in the area still requiring masks, sharing substitute teachers in a pool with other districts), there was a long uncomfortable pause, paired with an equally uncomfortable response from her of not being able to provide a good answer because “everyone feels differently about it”.
When the board asked about adoption of the 5 day quarantine guidelines which could help alleviate staffing shortages, Superintendent Judy Baseman stated that it was discussed, but not decided on yet (one would think it would have been important to decide prior to board vote, as it addresses some of the concerns that affected said vote).
Monday night’s vote ruled a 2% positivity standard to be inadequate now, turning us back to the drawing board with no plan in place. Important to note, previous discussions were: “once the vaccine is available for kids, we’ll feel a lot better about offering an option”. At the current positivity rate, only three of our schools would be mask optional, but the importance of upholding the vote was the ability for students to choose below 2% positivity rare for their school. With no new standards being set, it is likely that we will continue to mask for the duration of the school year.
We have not improved our mitigation strategies for in-person instruction since its creation in December 2020. We are severely misaligned with surrounding districts, being one of two districts in our area still mandating masks without guidelines. I would like to see efforts to create a more inclusive learning environment, exploring ways we can support and accommodate all families of various belief systems- for example, installing air filters in classrooms (versus relying solely on masking, which has proven to be ineffective).
The Board of Education has demonstrated an inability to be consistent in their messaging, decisive, flexible, optimistic, and open-minded. It is important to note that the board voted to give district administration power to navigate the virus and decide when to revise policy. The decision for masking falls on the administration.
Parents who feel the mask mandate is unsustainable for their children are not welcome in our district schools. If a child chooses to maintain their bodily autonomy for a variety of reasons and refuses to mask, they will be sent home and marked absent. If they continue to request a choice, they are denied an equitable, in-person education. Families are left with no other choice but to set aside their belief systems, needs, and instincts, or enroll in another district, privatize, or home educate their children.
The district has seen a steep decline in enrollment due to both declining academic standards and the district’s handling of COVID, yet there is a referendum on the table which includes building a new school to address overcrowding.
Through an open records request, I obtained e-mails between the medical advisors for the district and the administration. These emails show coordinated planning, tailoring of data, coercion ahead of board votes, animosity towards parents asking questions and expressing concerns for their children, admission of lack of evidence to support mitigation strategies, and reluctance to recommend a particular type of mask to families because “most kids care more about fashion” and families are trying to make “good faith efforts”.
Furthermore, during the medical advisors’ portion of the board meeting on January 10th, a graph was presented to the board showing hospitalization rates for the entire state of Wisconsin- labeled as being Fox Valley Hospitalizations which was a different set of data and graph (credit observation to “All Things Appleton”, a local journalist).
In addition, I received answers from administration via email to follow up questions I posed: The purpose of implementing mitigation strategies was to decrease or eliminate in-school spread of COVID, yet we don’t contact trace in-school spread. So, we’re not monitoring or measuring the very thing we are intending to mitigate.
In terms of the status of our students, AASD does not track or monitor how many students are referred by the district to local mental health clinics, non-profits, or school guidance counselors due to mental distress. We have no observation or monitoring in place for the mental health of our students. I’ve also spoken with parents of students testing positive for COVID and requiring special education and learned that they are not adequately communicated with as far as any virtual activities, learning options, or alternate accommodations made for their child (at least in the experience of three separate families I had spoken to).
Our administration and school board have exercised more power over our children than our local government and there’s been no effort to accommodate families’ right to choose.
The war on our children has to end. We cannot effectively educate them while perpetrating fear and division through forced mandates. The district hasn’t managed the virus, but rather the virus has managed the district.
I vow to always respect and preserve everyone’s right to choose, but need to be sensitive to everyone’s needs. I want ALL children to be happy and ALL forms of health to matter, instead of taking a one-size-fits-all approach. Through the duration of the virus, our district has only met the needs of one demographic of our families, programmed to believe there’s only one “right” way to navigate this virus-even when mitigation advice changes. Parents need mitigation strategies that provide our children stability, reassurance, support, and acceptance.
I will lead deliberately- understanding the intent and outcome of the choices I make, support instead of enforce, and apply principal instead of politics. The district has chosen a publicly declared, failed method that has not protected our children this entire time in exchange for our children’s psychological well-being.
If elected to serve you on the Board of Education, I vow to explore alternatives that improve mitigation strategies while prioritizing in-school learning in the least restrictive environment. I will work to meet the needs of every child and protect every family’s right to choose and to make decisions that they feel keep their family safe. I promise to bring a new perspective to the table while maintaining open-mindedness, asking critical questions, working towards full transparency, and leading with flexibility.
While I recognize not everyone shares the same approach, I’m prepared to explore and employ a variety of methods to serve all families and will always bring your concerns to the table. We all want the same thing- we just have to work on strategizing ways and means for getting there.
I look forward to facing challenges with you and working to ensure they don’t transform into hardships for our families.
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