RACINE — A number of COVID-19-related restrictions have been loosened in the City of Racine. Those loosened restrictions include allowing school buildings to open.
Public health experts in the city decided to ease restrictions after seeing a decline in new case numbers.
“It’s the classic case of having to decide between two bad decisions,” said parent Jeff Horbinski.
Horbinski told TMJ4 News he is looking forward to sending his kids to school, but only when it’s totally safe. He cites health reasons, such as asthma and Type 1 Diabetes.
“We’re a bit of the opinion, ‘let’s just call off school for the year, in-person,’” he explained.
Horbinski said he and each of his four school-aged kids have reacted differently to virtual learning, some more receptive to virtual learning than others, who prefer in-person learning.
“Our high school aged daughter does better with virtual. The other two boys, it’s a bit of a mix,” he said.
All school buildings are allowed to re-open as of midnight Saturday, as long as it has a previously-submitted safety plan.
Racine Unified Schools District, the state’s fifth largest school district, says it plans to begin opening its doors to some staff Tuesday. The rest of staff will come back January 25 alongside students taking special education with in-person needs.
It’s unclear when the entire student body can return to RUSD, but Jeff said he plans on being safe than sorry and plans to continue virtual learning.
