WAPS Board to Take Up Masking Requirement Thursday

WINONA, Minn. (KWNO)-The Winona Area Public Schools Board is set to vote on an item that would scrap the district’s indoor masking requirement.

A similar motion making masking optional instead of required failed at the most recent meeting in mid-February on a 3-3 vote. The motion was brought forward after the WAPS Incident Command Team recommended the district do away with the masking requirement.

A motion to include a vote on the district’s masking policy for Thursday’s meeting passed on a 4-2 vote. Citing case numbers higher than they were when the policy was enacted, Board Member Karl Sonneman said it’s not the time for the board to take up possible changes to the masking policy.

“It has not passed. I think we should let it rest until the numbers justify bringing it back for a vote,” Sonneman said during the Feb. 17 board meeting.

“I think we need to vote on it next time. It’s going to keep coming up as an issue for us,” Chair Nancy Denzer responded. Denzer brought up testimony the board heard from school principals who said enforcing the mask requirement is difficult.

Superintendent Dr. Annette K. Freiheit says district data show COVID is not being transmitted in school settings. The CDC’s new COVID tracking guidelines show the COVID spread as high in Winona County.

The agency still recommends universal masking in schools but says further guidance is coming. The Rochester School Board voted recently to relax its masking mandate.

The agenda item revises the policy from masking required to “recommended but optional.” The board meets at 6:30 p.m.