How much longer?

Medford schools look at options for after state mask orders expire

Medford School District students and staff could come back from Spring break to a mask-less school day.

The current mask order is set to expire on April 5, 60 days after it was imposed by Gov. Tony Evers under an emergency declaration. The next school board meeting is not scheduled until April 26. School board president Dave Fleegel had asked for the board to discuss at their regular meeting Monday night what would happen if the order was not renewed.

Board member John Zuleger said that he felt if the order expired, and especially in areas that had few new cases there would be little reason to carry it on. He said this is especially true after teachers in the district received vaccinations on March 19. He said there was a desire for people to return to a more normal existence.

Pat Sullivan District administrator Pat Sullivan, said he felt the order would be extended by the governor through the end of the school year. He also noted that the school board had a six-hour meeting last summer agreeing to a mask plan before any mask orders were issued. He suggested those rules would go into place allowing some non-mask time. He noted that 219 out of the 279 employees in the district have received vaccinations with some having vaccinations done on their own and not at last week’s vaccination clinic.

Board member Cheryl Wibben said there is a difference between last summer and now. “I feel it has gone through our area,” she said, noting that once people leave the school buildings they aren’t wearing the masks, noting this applies to students and adults. “I would like to see it go to personal choice,” she said, noting that people can always choose to wear masks.

“A mask doesn’t keep you from getting quarantined,” Zuleger said. However, it was noted that anyone who has been vaccinated and it has been two weeks after full vaccination, they can’t get quarantined anymore.

Board member Brian Hallgren said he did not understand why it was a board level discussion and instead said it should be up to Sullivan to follow the guidance of local and state public health departments.

Fleegel said conditions are different than when the board talked about it last summer. Zuleger asked how major employers are handling it, noting the students are in contact with who their parents are in proximity to at work. He asked what employers would be doing if the mask mandate was dropped.

Board member Barb Knight said she did not think the decision needed to be made that night also noting that Taylor County has the lowest number of people vaccinated. “The reason you wear a mask is for the other people who aren’t vaccinated,” she said.

“I still don’t see anyone not being able to learn because they have a mask on,” she said.

Zuleger replied to the vaccination percentage noting that Taylor County, because of its demographics routinely ranks low in overall vaccination rates because there are large groups that won’t get vaccines for any reason.

“If the state ended the mask mandate, I don’t see how we could enforce it,” Sullivan said. However, he quickly noted that he felt the state would be extending the order.

Staff requests

Staff members will get some, but not all of what they asked for in their annual requests to the board. Each year, the district holds a series of meetings with both teachers and with support staff representatives to get feedback from the employees. The requests come to the board which has final say on if any changes are implemented and to what degree.

This year the requests focused on sick and vacation days and were as follows: Increase the payout for unused sick leave. Currently teachers can accumulate up to 120 sick days with any unused days over that paid out at the end of that school year and at retirement at a rate of $60 per day. The last time the rate was changed was in 2009.

According to finance director Audra Brooks, last year the district paid out $26,514 in unused sick days with 441 days paid out. Increasing the payout to $75 per day would cost the district an additional $33,143 based on last year’s payouts. By comparison when teachers take a sick day, it costs the district $100 to pay for the substitute teacher. Sullivan said the administration supported the change.

Increase the payout for unused personal leave ($60/ day) for the annual payout. Staff can only start a year with five personal leave days. Sullivan said administration supported the change.

Increase the number of personal leave days teachers receive as they start their 15th year of service from two to three and increase the number of days that can be banked to six after 15 years of service. Sullivan also supported this change. Brooks estimated this would have about a $1,700 impact to the budget with the district paying out 110 days.

Sullivan said administration did not support a proposal to change how funeral leave is handled to add a floating funeral leave day for people who are not currently on the main list which includes immediate family members. He said district employees already have the option to using sick leave, personal days or unpaid days to attend funerals.

The support staff also had a list of requests including in ranked order: One more personal day awarded after four completed years of service. Administration supported this.

One more personal day to be banked. Administration supported this.

Increase starting wage to $11.65 for aides and $12.58 for custodians. Administration supported this.

Increase the district’s portion of the health insurance premium for support staff who qualify. Currently 9 month support staff pay 20% of their premiums and 12 month staff pay 10%. Administration did not support this proposal. “I don’t know that you can do both,” Sullivan said during the district finance committee meeting about increasing wages and benefits.

To adjust the funeral leave to allow staff to take up to one funeral leave day for people that are not currently on the main funeral leave list. As with the teachers, Sullivan said this was not supported.

School board members agreed with the bullet point changes that were supported by the administration voting by majority on a voice vote to adopt them. Board member Brian Hallgren, who voted against the changes said he supported making them, but felt the district should have waited another month to see how the budget process for next year was shaping up before making a commitment.

“These are permanent costs,” Hallgren said, noting he would have liked more time to see how the budget was coming together. Knight agreed noting another month could make a major change in the district budget.

The changes do not go into effect until the start of the 2021-2022 school year.

In other business:

_ Received an update on graduation. Principal Jill Lybert reported that with the success and feedback from last summer’s outdoor graduation, the district was planning to hold an outdoor ceremony this spring. Sullivan cautioned that the event would be like a football game and be rain or shine with the potential to postpone the start due to heavy rain or reschedule it to the following morning. “They are great until they are not,” Sullivan said of outdoor graduation ceremonies, encouraging those attending to dress for the weather.

_ Received an update on summer school. Plans are for it to take place as normal this year and run for 3.5 weeks in June and from August 2 to 13 for the jump start programs. Enrollment is currently underway with sessions being offered.