ANTIGO, WI (WSAU-WAOW) — After hours of public comment and debate, the Antigo School Board voted to make masks optional for the 2021-2022 school year.
Throughout the meeting, dozens of parents spoke out against the possibility of mandatory masking. Some even protested the meeting beforehand. “Under no circumstance would I send my five-year-old to school with a mask on her face,” said one mom during the meeting.
One Antigo mother was brought to tears at the meeting as she spoke of the difficulty her son had had with wearing a mask the past year.
“I had to put my son in an institution for wanting to kill himself last year, and I didn’t see any school board member wanting to help me,” she said.
But another commenter said she just wants everyone to respect each other’s decisions, no matter where they stand. “We can really be a community that comes together on this instead of a community that wants either end of the spectrum enforced,” she said.
The vote came with the stipulation that if a certain number of positive COVID-19 cases are reached, the district could reinstate mandatory masks. Antigo joins the ranks of a growing majority of school districts that have chosen to make masks optional. Other districts, like Marshfield and Stevens Point, have chosen to require masks.
School starts for Antigo students on August 30th.
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