First Amendment gets hearing at April School board meeting

Staff Report Back in 1789, fresh off of war with the British Empire over that foreign power’s trampling of English colonial rights, Congress passed ten amendments to the 1787 federal Constitution, lest a future American government or else factions within it find legal loopholes to return the newly independent colonies, to a state of bondage. Later ratified in December 1791, Included in the first of these amendments was freedom of speech, specifically that, “Congress shall make no law.. .abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, to petition the government for a redress of grievances,” even as the Framers made the Legislative branch first in Constitutional mention—better safe, than sorry.

In the wake of the recent strike down of the Governor’s third state mask mandate, advocates for and against said facial coverings used just such free speech rights to make their appearance before the Stanley-Boyd School Board.

In the speaker’s place for retaining the mask requirement was local student and Oriole Kaylee Lewallen, while on the opposite side of the argument were Dana Carlson and Erica Strum, two parents of other students petitioning the board and making their case why masks shouldn’t be required, or at least given nuance within the classroom.

Two other adults also came along in the public gallery related to the mask issue but did not speak before the school board, with Strum the only parent staying throughout the meeting, Carlson handing her comments to newspaper staff.

Starting the comment session off in the “against” side of the argument was Dana Carlson, parent of an Oriole senior as well as a graduate from the class of 2019. Carlson began her remarks before the board by asking a question: See HEARING, Page 9

Parent Dana Carlson Student Kaylee Lewallen Parent Erica Strum HEARING

FROM PAGE 1 “if you believe in the vaccine,” she asked, “why still require masks?”

Carlson then went on to enumerate a list of reasons for a repeal as well as a series of requests to the board. First, would the district consider holding a public forum like Thorp held? Next, Carlson noted the reported surplus of vaccines in Chippewa County and asked if the board would consider allowing the masks off for kids having their pictures taken for such things as the newspaper.

Fourth was a question of truancy. Kids couldn’t go to school if they were sniffly, but without a doctor’s note they would be ‘truant’ for staying home as otherwise required, a point Carlson hinged on the assertion that the cost of doctors meant that “99 percent of parents” wouldn’t take their kid in for a sniffle, thereby lacking the required doctor’s note and being ‘truant,’ per the state’s rule book. What then, she wanted to know.

Next saying that she had no middle school students of her own, Carlson said that a few middle school parents had asked her why kids were only allowed one bathroom break a day.

“I don’t have an answer for that,” she said, instead simply making the assertion.

Not finished speaking, Carlson then went into the question of whether the Stanley-Boyd district would require masks in the fall for the 2021-2022 school year.

“If you do, a lot of parents are looking to transfer their kids to Thorp, sad to say,” she stated asking the board when they would make a decision. Finally, there was graduation to talk about.

“Will you please reconsider allowing entire families to graduation?” Carlson asked the Board. Some families had more than four people, and with the largest stadium in the county at Oriole Park, “I surely believe we can spread out far enough,” Carlson said. “School is officially done for everyone by graduation day, so I really don’t see why there should be any restrictions at all,” she said. With Graduation twelve years in the making for the Class of 2021, “it shouldn’t have to have any sadness involved,” she said of graduation.

Taking the floor next to speak for masks during public comment was Stanley-Boyd student Kaylee Lewallen, daughter of board member Ryan Lewallen. In brief remarks to the board of Education, Lewallen addressed the vaccine and mask protocols.

“Yes there is the vaccine, but not all believe in it,” she said, while of masks she said that, “they help us get through the day.” With these remarks, she ceded the floor.

Following upon Lewallen in the against” column was Erica Strum, who spoke on the need for a local policy in the wake of the Supreme Court strike down of Governor Ever’s mask mandate.

“I am requesting that the district have a clear policy for next year,” Strum told the Board, as she brought up what she said were low rates of new cases compared to the previous fall.

Saying there were 3.6 new cases per week versus 100+ last fall, the district “shouldn’t have students live as though a pandemic is raging in their community, when it is not,” Strum said. Included with materials given staff was a fourpage packet with “from the D.P.I. (Department of Public Instruction) written on it but stamped on page four with the Department of Health Services logo. The Department of Health Services website listed one active COVID-19 investigation of an educational institution in Chippewa County as of Sunday, with no further specifics available.

In the four-page packet provided to newspaper staff, meanwhile, it is stated in part that, “cloth face coverings are not personal protective equipment and do not protect the wearer from infectious particles, especially in close contact with an infected person or if the person is not wearing their own mask.” Saying later that cloth face coverings “help to reduce the release of infectious particles into the air if the wearer speaks, coughs, or sneezes,” it notes that masks ‘are not a replacement for physical distancing and handwashing,” and that “our best defense against COVID-19 is practicing good public health.” The same four-page packet then goes on to advise that districts not mandate cloth face coverings as “a mandate presents complex and nuanced logistical and equitable concerns.” The packet states that “working with staff and families to establish the expectation of wearing cloth face coverings with students through modeling and lessons is a more effective solution.”

Further information and details in regards to graduation is to be made available following administrative board decision on May 24, at the board meeting.