Dear Members of the Oak Creek-Franklin School District Board of Education and Administration,
 
As concerned parents, legal guardians, grandparents, district staff, citizens, and individuals who live, work, and patronize local businesses in Oak Creek, we are appealing to the Oak Creek Franklin School District Board of Education (“Board”) to reconsider its current position that allows masks and quarantines to be optional for the start of the 2021-2022 school year. We urge you to implement a universal indoor mask requirement for 4K-8 students, staff and visitors to District buildings to start the school year and to reinstate the quarantine requirement for all unvaccinated individuals as was implemented during the 2020-2021 school year, as is recommended by all Health Officers from Milwaukee County Health Departments [inclusive of the Oak Creek Health Department (“OCHD”)] and as in accordance with Oak Creek Franklin School District Board of Education Policy, 453.2.
 
Parents and guardians can all agree that we want our children to remain in school, in-person, for the duration of the school year, and we want to give them every opportunity to do so. None of the students in elementary schools are eligible to be vaccinated at this time, and only a portion of middle schoolers are eligible. With the current number of COVID cases in our area multiplying alarmingly on a daily basis and confirmed recent outbreaks among young children at mask optional summer programs, basic precautions are essential to providing a consistent and reliable education. At a time when businesses across the metro Milwaukee area are doing all that they can to mitigate the spread of the virus by postponing returns to in-person work, mandating vaccines, and reinstating mask requirements, why is our District eliminating vital and accepted safety protocols? The students in OCFSD deserve to be protected by the mitigation recommendations widely accepted by institutions across the area, as recommended by the CDC, AAP, U.S. Department of Education, Wisconsin Department of Health, and the Wisconsin Department of Education.
 
Further, reflecting on the recent August 5, 2021 Memo issued by the Milwaukee County Health Officers , which was authored based on professional advice from the CDC, AAP, and the Wisconsin Department of Public Health; we feel that the Board is in violation of two Oak Creek-Franklin School District Board of Education policies (“Board Policies”).
 
As set forth on the Oak Creek-Franklin School District ("OCFSD") website and as follows, Policy 453.2 of the Board Policies specifically addresses Student Communicable Diseases. We feel that optional masks and the lack of a quarantine requirement for unvaccinated individuals directly contradicts items #1 and #4 as outlined for our OCFSD below:

Policy 453.2:  STUDENT COMMUNICABLE DISEASES
 
The Oak Creek-Franklin Joint School District is concerned with infectious and communicable diseases as they relate to the health and safety of all district students.  In particular, the district is concerned with the following:
1.      protection of other students from health risks;
2.      protection of the affected person, if he or she remains in school, from any further health risks;
3.      respect for the afflicted person’s right to privacy and medical confidentiality while at the same time providing sufficient information to parents, students, administrators, and staff to prevent protests and action based upon misinformation, suspicion, and fear;
4.      compliance with existing recommendations from state agencies in admitting persons with infectious and communicable diseases to the district;
5.      coordination of statements, printed or spoken, so that the public does not receive conflicting information;
6.      assurance that all examinations/inoculations required for students, staff and employees have been obtained;
7.      inclusion of information regarding suppression and control of communicable diseases as a regular part of the student curriculum.
 
Students or their parents/guardians are responsible for reporting communicable diseases to the building principal.  If statutorily required, the principal will make a report to the public health officer.  The principal and building staff shall handle the reporting in accordance with district procedures while respecting the privacy rights of the individual.
 
LEGAL REF:                  State statutes             118.13, 101.055, 103.15, 146.025(7), PI 9
CROSS REF:                 453 – Student Health Services                      
APPROVED:                 June 1988
REVISED:                     October 1993, July 2004
 
In defining the term “communicable disease,” the Wisconsin Department of Public Health notes the following on its website: https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/disease/index.htm
“Communicable diseases, also known as infectious diseases or transmissible diseases, are illnesses that result from the infection, presence and growth of pathogenic (capable of causing disease) biologic agents in an individual human or other animal host. Infections may range in severity from asymptomatic (without symptoms) to severe and fatal…”
 
COVID-19 can be clearly defined as a “communicable disease.” When addressing the spread of COVID-19, Lauren Sauer, M.S., director of operations for the Johns Hopkins Office of Critical Event Preparedness and Response notes that:“……coronavirus disease (“COVID-19”) is an infectious disease known to spread through droplets and virus particles released into the air when an infected person breathes, talks, laughs, sings, coughs or sneezes… This is why mask-wearing, hand hygiene, and physical distancing are essential to preventing COVID-19…..” (https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus
 
We’ve learned throughout the evolution of the pandemic that COVID can be spread through asymptomatic and symptomatic individuals. Without (1) the implementation of a universal indoor masking policy for children not yet eligible to be vaccinated, at a time when the Delta variant is gaining prevalence in southeastern Wisconsin, and (2) without adhering to the clear, repeated, and unanimous recommendations and urging of health professionals to continue universal masking and quarantines as obvious mitigation protocols; we feel that OCFSD is not in compliance with item #1 of the Student Communicable Diseases policy by lacking to demonstrate any “concern with the protection of students from health risks”, as it relates to the spread and transmission of COVID-19.
 
The Board neglected to address the contents of Milwaukee County Health Officers' updated (August 5, 2021) Memo at the August 9, 2021, Board meeting. The omitted Memo states that “masks are universally recommended to be worn indoors……In school settings, many students are not currently eligible for vaccine due to their age…This is aligned with guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Wisconsin Department of Health Services….”
 
The Memo also specifically addresses quarantines, noting “Quarantines of close contacts is still necessary and important step to control disease.” It goes on to specify that “individuals identified as a close contact…who are not fully vaccinated will be REQUIRED to quarantine for 7 days (with testing & no symptoms) or 10 days (without testing & no symptoms), quarantined individuals MUST BE EXCLUDED FROM IN-PERSON CLASSES AND ACTIVITIES….” By not adhering to the quarantine recommendations of the OCHD AND the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (on which OCHD’s quarantine requirement is based), OCFSD is clearly violating statement #4 as it refers to “compliance with existing recommendations with state agencies in admitting persons with infectious and communicable diseases to the district.” If it dismisses the requirement to quarantine with COVID, the Board is not enforcing their policy on communicable disease. Does this mean that the Board will also disregard recommendations for children with measles, meningitis, mumps, scarlet fever, and others?
 
In sum, we are calling on the Board to begin the school year with a universal indoor mask requirement for all 4K-8 students, staff, and building visitors and to require quarantines for unvaccinated individuals in the district, as outlined by the OCHD. This requirement should be pursuant to regular and reasonable review of the current COVID situation within our schools and community, modifying/removing requirements pending increases/decreases in cases. We urge you to consider our position and schedule a meeting to specifically address these issues prior to the start of the 2021-2022 school year, or as soon as possible.