As COVID-19 cases surge across the country, the CDC has listed areas of southeast Wisconsin as experiencing ’substantial’ or ‘high’ levels of virus spread.
School districts across the state are discussing if students will be required to wear masks for the upcoming school year.
In southeast Wisconsin, the following school districts are requiring masks. TMJ4 will add to the list as more districts/colleges announce their plans:
- Shorewood: Students, staff, and visitors will be required to wear a mask when inside all district facilities.
- Milwaukee Public Schools: Students, staff, and visitors will be required to wear a mask.
- Whitefish Bay School District: Masks are required for everyone while in district facilities. When outside, eating or drinking inside, or in some other exceptions as set out in the District’s mask policy, masks are not required. For the full policy, click here.
- West Allis – West Milwaukee School District: Effective Sept. 1 and until further notice, all students, staff and families are required to wear masks in school and other district buildings. The rule also applies to buses and some sporting events.
- Brown Deer School District: Everyone in school buildings will have to wear masks, regardless of vaccination status for the duration of the pandemic. View the approved policy here.
- St. Francis School District: Effective July 12, 2021, face coverings will be optional for all students over the age of twelve (12) for after-school hours activities and events with the exception of individuals that have been identified by the District Nurse or Isolation Room Supervisor as being symptomatic. Face coverings would be required for school day activities.
- Wauwatosa School District: Based on the School Board’s approval of the Re-Entry Plan, effective immediately, masks or other face coverings are required for all individuals inside district buildings. Individuals must also maintain at least three (3) feet of physical distance between themselves and others. Masks are not required outdoors.
- Racine Unified School District: "RUSD is re-instituting the requirement for all students, staff and visitors to wear facemasks while in our buildings," the district announced on August 17. See the district's full plan here.
- Glendale River HillsSchool District: Masks will be required for all staff and students inside district buildings. All students will be in person five days per week. Mitigation measures implemented last spring will remain in place. View the plan here.
- Cudahy School District Board voted in favor of requiring masks this fall for all students and staff.
- Grafton School District: Face coverings are required indoors for students and staff in the elementary schools. Masks are required for students and staff in the middle school while entering and leaving the building and during transition times. The requirement starts 9/2 and 9/3. They will then start a 14-day mask mandate on 9/7. At the end of that 14 days, they will look internally at the numbers of positive cases/students in quarantine. If that threshold is below 10 percent, they will likely lift the mandate and make them optional moving forward. View the entire COVID-19 plan here.
Colleges requiring masks:
- University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee: UWM says students, employees, and visitors to all UWM campuses must wear masks indoors while sharing a room or common area/space with another person, including classrooms, labs, bathrooms, hallways, lobbies, or waiting areas.
On Monday, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction strongly recommended school districts use newly updated COVID-19 recommendations when implementing local responses to the pandemic for the 2021-22 school year.
“As a former Wisconsin school district leader who led a school district through COVID last year, I know many students and families desire in-person learning and a safe return to the classroom this fall,” State Superintendent Jill Underly said in a statement. “We want schools open for in-person instruction. And we want to keep kids, educators, and families safe. The joint guidance we are strongly recommending districts follow provides a roadmap for a safe return to in-person school.”