MANITOWOC, Wis. (NBC 26) — After more than a year of Covid-19 in the classroom and protests over mitigation policies, Northeast Wisconsin school leaders are eager to bring back the 'old normal.'
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"I'm confident that we'll get a significant number of parents who will have their children vaccinated," Manitowoc school board President Dave Nickels said.
Children 5 to 11 can now receive the Pfizer vaccine. Nickels says the new doses will help the district revisit its Covid protocols.
"[The pandemic] required you to make changes that you didn't really like, that you didn't want to do," he said. "I think people have kind of gotten fed up with the way things are. They want to move on, but we can't always do that."
With 20 active cases, Manitowoc's district requires masks, along with quarantine and isolation policies.
"I think we can relax some of those," Nickels said. "I think we can look at making some positive changes to those."
"In my individual opinion as an independent elected official, as I review recommendations for Covid-related decisions, this new option for families that wasn't there before should provide an opportunity to review our Covid-related policies," Green Bay school boardmember Andrew Becker said.
In Appleton, the districtalso enforces mandatory face coverings.
"It certainly is hard knowing that we have a large number of families that aren't happy with the actions we've taken," AASD board member Amanda Stuck said.
In her independent opinion, she says the new vaccine doses will only help loosen Covid restrictions.
"This will be an influencing factor and certainly will be a part of the discussion I believe," Stuck said.
Appleton officials are set to review mitigation protocols at a Nov. 22 board meeting.
"We can actually start moving back towards some more normalcy if we can get as many people vaccinated as possible," Stuck said. "Because we know that truly is the best way to get us there."
