NEWS

NFDL School District implements mask mandate, students who don't comply will be sent home

Fond du Lac Reporter

Horace Mann High School in North Fond du Lac

NORTH FOND DU LAC - Students in the North Fond du Lac School District are required to wear masks for the next 15 days due to a rise in the number of COVID-19 cases within the district.

The announcement was posted on the school district's website that face masks must be worn inside buildings during school and at after school activities through Oct. 6.

At that time the school district will look at virus-related data and reevaluate the situation, said Superintendent Aaron Sadoff.

Since the temporary mandate went into effect on Tuesday, Sadoff said 99% of kids and families have complied, although there were some issues Wednesday morning that required a police presence. The district is working with the school resource officer and village police to "mitigate any issues that cause added stress," he said.

Students who refuse to wear masks will be sent home.

"We try to work with parents as best we can, try to reason and give information, but if they are truly opposed to masks we ask they do it in a respectful way and keep their kids home," he said.

Sadoff said the goal is to keep schools open and students in school.

A dashboard set up on the website shows 13 students and two staff members as testing positive for COVID-19. Five of those cases — four at the middle school and one at the high school — were determined to be caused by spreading in school.

In all, 64 students and two staff are also exhibiting symptoms of the virus, the dashboard indicates.

Fond du Lac County Health Department reports that within the community of North Fond du Lac, 52 new cases were reported over the last two weeks, 16 of them occurring in persons age 19 and younger.

The policy for this school year set a threshold for enforcing temporary mask mandates if at least four students test positive for COVID-19 and it was determined to be caused by school spread or the school community has a new case rate of 50 people or more for a two-week period.

The issue of mask wearing in the district has been contentious. An Aug. 31 meeting drew a crowd of sign-carrying parents — many opposed to the idea of wearing masks.

Two school board members, Shawn Pollack and Paula Stettbacher resigned following a special meeting over whether masks should be worn in schools, due to a lack of decision-making at the time.

But early this month the school board approved a "Welcome Back" plan for the school year that allows the superintendent to adjust the school's mask policy, dependent on COVID-19 metrics.

Other schools districts in the county have similar policies in place that allow their mask-optional policies to be adjusted if necessary. North Fond du Lac appears to be the first to do so.

The health department's COVID-19 dashboard for area schools for this week shows a "very high" numbers of cases with the school communities of Campbellsport, Fond du Lac, North Fond du Lac, Oakfield, Ripon, Rosendale-Brandon and Waupun.

The breakdown for positive cases in persons age 19 and younger is: Campbellsport, 24; Fond du Lac, 141; North Fond du Lac, 16; Oakfield, 2; Ripon, 17; Rosendale-Brandon, 8; and Waupun, 23.

Around the state other school districts have been reacting to the rising number of COVID-19 cases. In Winneconne, elementary schools have gone virtual for two weeks, and the Lac Du Flambeau and Mercer school districts are also on temporary virtual learning status.

Contact Sharon Roznik at 920-907-7936 or sroznik@gannett.com. Follow her on Facebook at facebook.com/reporterroz/