WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — Students in Wausau will not be headed back to the classroom this fall for the foreseeable future.
Monday evening the Wausau School Board voted in favor of a motion to start the school year virtually. School administration recommended the virtual start as opposed to two other options after consulting with local medical professionals, district parents, and district staff.
District Superintendent Dr. Keith Hilts says the recommendation is being made due to the increasing trend of COVID-19 cases in the area. “Favoring a tendency of a cautious approach to starting school rather than any sort of an in-person start to the school year.”
Complete details of the virtual reopening plan weren’t shared with the board as the 25-page document with the plan is constantly changing at this time. Administration plans to have more details available at the Board’s next meeting on August 10th.
Some questions the board asked about the recommendation from administration to start the year virtually was addressed by Marathon County Health Department Public Health Educator Amanda Ostrowski. She told the board that due to rising COVID-19 cases the department is too overwhelmed to handle potential positive school cases in less than a day.
“We are surging right now and the feedback we’ve gotten from districts is how fast can you get to us if there’s a positive case. And we’re being very transparent with districts that as our numbers continue to increase, our response time slows.”
Ostrowski also noted that if a child does test positive for COVID-19 and goes to school without social distancing in place, an entire class could need to be quarantined. Which a quarantine for students could last anywhere from 14 days to over a month depending on other positive cases in the household.
“That child and all their siblings and the other household members are also quarantined. But their quarantine isn’t only 14 days. Their quarantined until the positive household member well date, and an additional 14 days.”
The school board also voted on an amendment to the decision to begin the school year virtually. The amendment that passed 8-1 will require the school board to reevaluate the district schooling plan every month. The monthly review allows the school board to authorize one of the other Project Relaunch plans if COVID-19 conditions in the community improve.
While the amendment to the virtual opening passed 8-1, the virtual opening motion only passed 7-3. Lance Trollop, one of the school board members who voted for the monthly amendment review but against the virtual plan, says he is in support of starting the school year virtually, but could not vote for the plan until further details were given by district administration.
With the framework passed to begin the school year virtually, a final vote on the plan with additional details is expected at the beginning of August.
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