CEDARBURG — It was a long night at the Cedarburg School Board meeting as wearing masks in the classroom took center stage. Ultimately, a slight change was made for the rest of the 2020-2021 school year.
The meeting was almost abandoned when several people in the audience refused to put on a mask. The board took a recess for more than 30 minutes while some people put on masks, and others said they suffered from medical reasons prohibiting them from doing so.
How the district handles masks, social distancing, contact tracing, and quarantine times were all on the agenda for the meeting, but the mask mandates took precedence.
One parent said, “While other districts are just getting back to in-person learning for the first time, why are we even considering stopping the masks?”
While another said, “imposing mask-wearing and social distancing on our children by fear-mongering neurotic adults is hurting our children in every way.”
Many in the crowd asked the district to keep the mask mandate in place through the remainder of the school year, which is almost over. Some asked the district to consider next year’s mask guidelines closer to the start of the school year in the fall.
Public comment at Cedarburg meetings generally are limited to 30 minutes, but the board extended them by an additional 60 as the meeting went late into the night. Shortly before midnight, the board voted to make masks optional outside of school buildings. They will still be required inside school buildings and vehicles. Students and staff are allowed to take off masks in unoccupied rooms or while eating and drinking.