By Michael S. Hoey
Correspondent
The Delavan-Darien School Board voted last week to continue requiring facial coverings by students and staff in district schools through the end of the school year. A decision about whether to require them during summer school will be made in June.
The recent Wisconsin Supreme Court decision to overturn Governor Tony Evers’ state mandate on wearing facial coverings spurred discussion within the district about how the district should proceed.
Administrator Jill Sorbie sent out surveys to staff and families to gauge their opinions. The responses were split with 67 percent of staff supporting continuing the mandate and 59 percent of families not wanting it to continue.
Sorbie said the neighboring districts she contacted are continuing to require masks and a Walworth County Health Department official also recommended the district continue the mandate.
Two parents spoke during public comments about the mask mandate at the April 12 school board meeting. Some concerns were expressed about the mental and physical impacts of wearing masks all day and how the positives of wearing them may not outweigh the negatives. One parent who spoke also said parents should be able to decide if their children wear masks rather than having it mandated.
President Jeff Scherer asked each board member to share their opinions. Six of the seven board members supported continuing the mandate. Tiffany Schutt was the only board member to vote against continuing to do. Schutt said she believed masks should be worn when social distancing cannot be accomplished but she thought there might be room for giving the students breaks when they are able to distance themselves from others.
Ron Deschner said the district has made it three-quarters of the way through the school year and he was proud of the results as the DDHS was one of a few in the area to never have to close down for any period of time. He also pointed out the state mandate was struck down by the State Supreme Court because the court believed Evers exceeded his authority, not because masks should not be worn.
Scherer said he is a retired physician who sees the science behind requiring masks but he can understand both sides of the issue. He said the issue, unfortunately, has become political. Scherer also said he was very proud of the district for how it has handled the pandemic.
Dave Henriott said politics should not be part of the discussion. He said the district has had good success so far this year and should continue to require masks.
Sharon Gonzalez said the Centers for Disease Control highly recommends masks and the district has statistically fared very well in comparison to area schools. She agreed with Deschner that the ruling had nothing to do with the benefits of wearing masks and she said she would hate to see the district become a hot spot in the last few weeks of school.
Sorbie asked if the district should consider relaxing the mandate during summer school. She said the district led the way last summer in offering in-person summer school when no one else did and the district could lead the way again by not requiring masks this summer.
The consensus was to wait and see what the situation is when summer school starts.
The motion to continue requiring masks extends through the end of the school year and the first two days of summer school. The board will discuss what to do for summer school at its June 14 meeting, which is the day summer school will begin.
