WEST ALLIS — Effective Sept. 1 and until further notice, all West Allis-West Milwaukee School District students, staff, and families are required to wear masks in school and other district buildings.
Superintendent, Dr. Marty Lexmond, addressed the board and parents via zoom and in-person on the framework set the framework with how the district will act moving forward.
"Start with everybody, re-evaluate for secondary at the end of September, set some targets of what we want to see in the data. We will wait for elementaries to have access to vaccinations, and allow masks to be optional during high-intensity athletics and activities," said Dr. Lexmond.
However, some people may be able to get mask exemptions for medical or other reasons. If you are by yourself in a room in a facility, you are free to remove your mask, according to the approved policy.
During a tense meeting Monday evening, parents pleaded their cases to the school board both for and against facial coverings.
Parent, Lakeva McCray, spoke out demanding the board to require masks worrying that her daughter might not be able to experience an in-person graduation. "She has a 3.67 GPA…she deserves the right to walk across the stage in a healthy and safe environment," said McCray.
Parents on both sides of the mask debate gave passionate testimonies in front of the board.
The goal for the district is to keep schools open, which is how they've rationalized the mask requirement.
Some parents of seniors were worried their kids could miss out on milestone life events, like graduation. Other parents believe it's simply the freedom to choose.
"We should be able to decide for them, they too are Americans with rights," said parent, Leah Zacharias.
Now the fight isn't over for some of these parents that were at the Monday night meeting, because the board can revisit this decision. They decided they will review mask requirements on a monthly basis.