Staying on track
Medford board keeps mask threshold, sets when masks come off
NEWS EDITOR
Masks will continue to fill a role in combating the spread of COVID-19 in Medford school district, but on a more focused level.
Last August, board members approved starting school with only optional masking and set up trigger points to require masks to be worn in specific buildings if the number of confi rmed positive cases in that building exceeded threshold levels.
With a spike in positive cases of COVID- 19 in Medford Area Middle School, those levels were met and following school board direction, district administrator Pat Sullivan ordered students and staff to wear masks in that building.
As Sullivan pointed out to board members at Monday night’s school board meeting, the policy as established did not include an off switch as to when to stop wearing masks with the thought it would be at least until the next school board meeting. He said it just happened to occur when there was less than a week until the next board meeting. During the public participation portion of the meeting, parents expressed frustration about the mask order and about the masking requirement for students who are close contact who are allowed to remain in school wearing masks rather than being home on quarantine.
Board member Don Everhard cited reports that cloth masks are not as effective against the current Omicron strain of COVID-19. “I am not sure it is serving any purpose other than showing that we are trying to do something,” Everhard said.
He said he was supportive in looking out for the health and safety of students, but said the effectiveness of the masks needed to be a factor as the board looked at refining the process. Regardless he said he felt there should be a relief valve for the administration to know when to stop requiring masks to be worn.
Board president Dave Fleegel advocated for making the masks optional at all levels. He noted the schools are one of the few places in the community where masking exists and said he does not know that the school is where everyone is catching it. “I think it is a needle in a haystack at best,” Fleegel said making a motion to leave mask wearing optional regardless of the number of positives.
Board member John Zuleger disagreed and said that while the masks may not do a lot, they can help reinforce other behaviors that prevent the spread of the virus. “Having it on means you problem lick less doorknobs,” he said jokingly, but also noted touching faces and in general making people more conscious of what they are doing.
Board member Jodi Nuernberger supported keeping the 3% benchmark in each building, but said the district needed to more clearly define it. She explained that the rule was set up as a way to allow the district to keep its doors open and operations going and to ensure that they had enough teachers and enough staff to do that.
She noted that in the few days since the mask order was put in place for the middle school the numbers took a steep decline. “To me something happened with that change,” she said, adding that it was worth keeping in place if it helped keep the doors open.
Fleegel said there was no evidence that the sudden spike at the middle school was due to people getting it at school. Board member Cheryl Wibben noted that traveling sports season is underway for the middle school and there are more interactions taking place.
Board member Brian Hallgren called on board members to look at the numbers showing there were more positives among students in the first quarter of this school year than in the entire school year last year. “These are the facts from our own people,” he said, noting that it is only those who they know are positive saying there are others who have symptoms but never get tested.
Everhard said that is consistent with the national averages. “We have had more people die in the past year than died in the year before,” he said.
Fleegel said the district needed to consider the whole child rather than focusing on COVID as a court of problems for the past two years.
“You put them in a mask because it helps and then we shove them off in a corner,” Fleegel said, citing the mental struggles students are having. He said social interactions, including being able to see friends smile, is an important part of their wellbeing.
Zuleger countered that in August when the board set the criteria they set it at a level that no one on the board anticipated they would have any chance of meeting and it was met. “There is something significant happening and it is not good,” he said. For Zuleger, the only part they missed was building in an “off” switch.
Board member Steve Deml was critical about Fleegel bringing the issue back each month. “We just keep beating this thing again and again and again,” he said.
“You just keep going back to a topic you disagree with over and over and over. It is like deja vu every month,” he said suggesting the board needed to stick with what they had started.
Sullivan said that from an administration standpoint, they would do whatever the board decided.
“What are we protecting the kids from?” Fleegel asked, noting that despite an increase in cases he is unaware of any Medford student that has required hospitalization from COVID-19. “The same thing we were protecting them from in August,” Zuleger answered.
“We are responsible for all kids in the district,” Hallgren said, urging the board to look for the good of the whole.
Paul Dixon, who regularly wears a mask at every school board meeting, noted that his mask wearing is to reduce the risk he gives COVID-19 to another person. “It is not to protect yourself, it is to protect those around you,” he said. “We are in a situation where you give of yourself to protect others,” he said.
Fleegel’s motion failed 5-4 with Fleegel, Everhard, Aemus Balsis and Wibben in support and Deml, Zuleger, Hallgren, Dixon and Nernberger opposed.
Sullivan addressed concerns over the masks saying that administratively, they viewed the contact-tracing masking as being a short amount of time and did not allow exemptions to masking. “If you really can’t wear a mask you will have to stay home on quarantine,” he said of the process they have followed.
As far as building wide, they did allow the mask exemptions to be in place because of the potential for it being a longer-term situation. “If we want to change those things, fine,” Sullivan said, noting that trying to figure out who has exemptions and who doesn’t can take a lot of work.
He suggested that if they wanted to put an “off switch” on the mask requirement, he suggested setting it at two days where the school building is below the mark. Zuleger suggested it be at three days because it can take that long to get a test result back when there are no rapid tests available.
Zuleger made a motion to keep the 3% threshold for positives in a building with the mask rule going off if the level dropped below that for three school days in a row. In addition, masking exemptions would be in place.
Balsis said he feels the increased number of people testing is driving up the number of positives rather than it being actually new people getting sick. “It is all about accessibility to testing,” he said.
“You have to trust the numbers you have, because they are the only ones you can go with,” Zuleger said. Board members approved Zuleger’s motion.
Fleegel then raised concern about quarantine students being isolated. Sullivan said that while attempts were made in each of the buildings to separate quarantining students from others, those proved to be impractical and are no longer being done.
Board members then went into a discussion on if they should continue to do close contact tracing in the buildings. Current direction from the health department is that they are not doing contact tracing beyond immediate family members.
Balsis said he did not see a value in having staff waste hours of each day going though the work of contacting families of close contacts that occurred in the school. “I want the kids to be safe, but where do we start moving forward,” he said.
Zuleger said that as a parent he finds value in knowing what is going on in his children’s classrooms. He said it is good to hear that information and be able to make a decision based on the information you are given. Deml said he was open to going away from contact tracing in the future, but not yet.
Referendum and infrastructure
With a series of votes, board members formally approved putting the referendum on the April 5 General Election ballot.
Board members approved the language of the referendum. “Referendum wording is never fun,” Fleegel said, noting it was the legal language written by the school district’s lawyer.
Board members then approved an initial resolution to borrow $29,910,000 and a formal resolution to send that request to borrow the funds to the voters for approval. These are steps spelled out by the state for the referendum to take place.
Board members also heard from Erika Freeman of Findorff about efforts to educate the public on the need for the referendum and what was in the project. As part of working with Findorff, Freeman provides public relations support for the referendum project. She said the focus this time will be on highlighting what is different with the request this time around.
Compared to previous requests, this referendum is scaled back significantly with the district having dropped the request for a new gym and theater as well as scaling back in other areas. Combined these cuts shaved about $10 million off the request compared to the referendum that was brought to voters in 2021.
Freeman had offered to do a workshop with the board as a special meeting on February 21 to go over board members’ roles in a referendum. This would have been targeted primarily to the three new board members who came on after the last referendum vote. State law limits the advocacy that a district can do for a referendum to providing information but this does not prevent individual board members from speaking about it.
Rather than holding a special meeting, board member consensus was to plan a light agenda for that evening and have her present during the regular board meeting.
In addition to the proposed referendum projects, Sullivan reported on the district’s application for federal FEMA funds to build a storm shelter dome behind the high school. The grant application was due on Tuesday and Sullivan said he felt the district had a good opportunity to receive the funding.
The total cost of the dome is estimated at $6.128 million and would be a standalone structure measuring about 11,000 square feet. If the district is successful, the grant would cover $3,993,000 of the cost leaving the district with having to fund $2,135,000 through local contributors and other sources.
Sullivan has been actively seeking support for the project and has pledges of $500,000 from Memorial Member Association, $75,000 from Prevail Bank, $50,000 from Forward Bank, $25,000 from Nicolet Bank and a private pledge from an individual of $5,000 totaling $655,000.
He said the district is expected to find out in June if the grant was successful and would continue to work to get pledges to support the project. He said that the project calls for it to be an open space that can be ready in five minutes for natural disasters. “It won’t be a gym unless we can raise more money,” Sullivan said.
Zuleger questioned the dollar amounts noting that there is a long time between now and when the project could be approved and prices are fluctuating. Sullivan agreed that while they don’t know what the price of building materials will be and said they are basing off the cost projections given by planners. He said even if successful in getting a grant, the district would not spend any money on it until the board decided to go forward.
Board member John Zuleger makes a point about the need to keep with the district’s thresholds set in August regarding when masks may be required in the buildings. He noted the board set the levels to trigger masking in any building far higher than they expected to ever reach, but the middle school reached that amount last week.BRIAN WILSON/THE STAR NEWS
School board candidate Corey Dassow attended Monday’s meeting and introduced himself to the board noting he is a Medford native and has children in the high school, middle school and elementary school. “I am looking to serve the community in a different way,” he said.BRIAN WILSON/THE STAR NEWS
