HARRISON (NBC 26) — On Monday night, the Kimberly Area School District Board voted to change its mask policy in a surprise vote. The district will make face coverings optional, starting this summer.
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"[We will] keep masking for the remainder of the school year," Superintendent Robert Mayfield said. "Once summer school starts, it'll be optional."
With less than two weeks left, students and staff will be required to mask for the rest of the current semester. The board says it will wait until August to hash out its COVID mitigation policies for the fall.
"We're the parents, we're the people, and we get to choose what we feel is best for us," Kimberly parent Katie Hintz, who has advocated to make face coverings voluntary immediately, said.
"Let's give our kids a chance to get the vaccine, and then take the masks off," Katie Van Den Heuvel, who is a mother of a first grader, said.
Hintz says masks have been a tough adjustment for her two students.
"If you choose to wear a mask or if you choose to not wear a mask or have your kids wear one or not, we want the choice," Hintz said.
Hintz says she wants masks gone before summer school begins.
"We deserve the choice," she said. "Without being able to take those deep breaths from behind the mask, he [Hintz's son] struggles. My teenage daughter is struggling emotionally as well."
With masks optional this summer, Hintz hopes it's a policy that sticks next fall.
"We need to end on a high note," Hintz said. "We need them to go into the summer worry free."
Other parents like Katie Van Den Heuvel wanted face coverings to stay mandatory through the summer.
"We have no idea," Van Den Heuvel said. "We don't know how it's [coronavirus] going to affect my child, another child."
With a first grader, Van Den Heuvel says masking has been going well for her son, who has asthma.
"Through the past year he's been wearing a mask, [he] has not had any issues with breathing," she said. "Kids under 12 don't even have the opportunity yet to get vaccinated."
While Van Den Heuvel and Hintz disagree on masks, they say they both want what's best for their children.
"Why are you trying to take away my choice of keeping my child safe?" Van Den Heuvel asked.
Nearly 50 school districts in Wisconsin have done away with mask requirements already.
Districts in Northeast Wisconsin that still require them include the Green Bay Area School District and the Oshkosh Area School District. The Appleton Area School District requires masks indoors, but they may be removed while outside on school grounds.
Members of the school board were not available for comment following Monday night's meeting.
