Colby K-12 board ends mask debate

By Kevin O’Brien

Colby School Board president Bill Tesmer declared Monday night that the debate over whether students need to wear masks to school is “over.”

After months of hearing from a group of parents who want more control over whether their kids have to wear masks, Tesmer said the board is sticking with the district’s policy of requiring doctor’s notes for mask exemptions.

At the board’s January meeting, without making any promises, Tesmer said he would look into the idea of parental exemptions. He pointed out responses to a survey sent out by superintendent Steve Kolden to other district administrators in the area, asking them whether they allow parents to unilaterally exempt their students from the mask mandate.

Of the 17 neighboring districts that responded, only one, Abbotsford, allows parents to exempt their children from the mask requirement without having to provide a signed document from a licensed medical professional.

Tesmer also noted that many board members, including himself, have been receiving phone calls, messages and inperson comments from people thanking them for keeping the mask rules in place.

Still, Tesmer said issues like the mask debate are basically a “no-win situation.”

“Somebody is always going to be upset about the decision that this board has to

See MASKS/ Page 11 make,” he said.

As elected officials, though, Tesmer said they have to make “tough decisions” that do not always line up with their own opinions or the views of their friends, families and neighbors.

“We have to take into consideration, as board members, everybody that walks through the doors of the Colby School District,” he said.

The CDC, Clark County Health Department and the district’s legal counsel all strongly recommend that the district require students and staff to wear masks, Tesmer noted.

Tesmer cited a CDC study stating that “in-person instruction in public schools is appropriate” only when mitigation strategies like mask-wearing are enforced to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

“We want the kids in school,” he said, but that requires them to wear masks.

The board has repeatedly reaffirmed the superintendent’s authority to enforce the mask mandate at meetings in July, September and October, he noted. Those rules will remain in effect until Kolden decides to lift them, Tesmer said.

Monday’s agenda made it clear that public comments would not be taken on the subject of masks, a decision made by Tesmer and Kolden.

“When we met two weeks ago, we mutually agreed that masks were not going to be placed on the agenda tonight,” he said. “With that being said, really, the mask debate is over.”

In other COVID-related news, Kolden told the board that the switch from four to five days of in-person classes does not appear to have caused a rise in cases.

“The COVID numbers are as low as they’ve been all year,” Kolden said. As of Monday, the district had no staff and just 11 students in quarantine.

When asked about teachers and other staff getting vaccinated, Kolden said the Clark County Health Department had planned on doing on-site vaccinations in early and late March, but that may not happen if the Wisconsin Department of Health Services takes over schools vaccinations statewide. Kolden said Clark County Health had “bent over backwards” to make sure all school staff would be vaccinated as soon as possible, but school districts in larger counties were looking at having to wait much longer. If DHS takes over the vaccine rollout statewide, Kolden said the wait times are likely to change.

“I don’t think that will play positively for us,” he said. “It’ll play positively for different districts that are not getting that same kind of priority.”

Other business

_ The board revised the 2021-2022 school calendar so that the first two snow days of the school year will not be made up. After that, virtual learning will be used to provide instruction whenever inperson school is cancelled due to inclement weather.

Board member Cheryl Ploeckelman raised questions about what teachers without internet access at home will do if classes are moved online for what normally would be a “snow day.”

Kolden said teachers can always come to school on those days, but Ploeckelman worried about them risking their safety if road conditions are unsafe.

“Do we really want to put their lives at risk?” she asked.

Teachers always have options, such as taking home a wifi hotspot, if they need to teach remotely, Kolden said.

_ Kolden told the board that he does not anticipate any changes to the district’s staffing level for the 2021-2022 school year.

“We’re not looking at adding any new positions or deleting any,” he said.

_ The board accepted the resignations of girls assistant varsity softball coach Rick Golz and custodian LeRoy Steiner.

_ The board accepted the retirements of the following teachers and staff: Lori Neumann, Mary Boor, Lynn Spice, Jean Rosemeyer, Kris Woik, LeRoy Underwood, Jon Kleinschmidt, Nancy Becker, Mary Beth Guy and Jennifer Kraus.

_ The board approved the hiring of Nancy Swan as a food service computer aide.

_ The board accepted a $5,624 donation from Forward Bank.

_ The board approved the following dates for summer school year: July 12-15, 19-22 and 26-29.

_ The board approved a motion to pay Gym Boys of Oostburg up to $27,000 for three projects: adding railings and aisles to the middle and high school gym bleachers ($9,935), preventative maintenance and inspection of the retractable basketball backstops and curtain at the middle and high school gyms ($4,000) and installation of five electrical winches at the high school gym ($9,375).