Elmbrook School District to hold Covid policy meeting Tuesday, parents set to rally beforehand

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Elmbrook parents are once again facing possible changes to the school district's mitigation efforts.

This, as the delta variant continues its push around the country.

Parents say they just want schools to be able to stay open, something they say relies heavily on decisions made by the board. 

"It's concerning that we seem to be at a 'wait until there's a problem before we'll take action state' this year," said Emily Schultz, Elmbrook parent of two.

The Elmbrook School District's Return to Learn plan allows parents of children sixth grade and younger to choose between a mask-recommended classroom or a mask-required classroom. Both are available.

"You know we don't have data supporting this model. So we really truly don't know the impact and the safety of this model, whereas every child was masked, every teacher was masked," said Dr. Poonam Patel, parent of two.

Elmbrook is also the only district in the area that still allows for at-home learning.

"Frankly it's concerning to look at this and see how much disease prevalence before we take even what are seen as common sense precautions or protocols," said Schultz.

What the board will be discussing is how to set thresholds -- that's how many Covid cases would be allowed in Brookfield and Elm Grove before certain mitigation efforts like masking and quarantining would kick in. But parents think the wait-and-see approach is bad.

"It sets a precarious situation up here, where now we're waiting for numbers to go up to act, when conversely we could just be safe from the very beginning and hopefully prevent those numbers from reaching those thresholds," said Dr. Patel.

The meeting is in person and starts at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 14.

Elmbrook Parents for Safe Open Schools will hold a rally ahead of the meeting outside the district office building.