MILWAUKEE- The Wauwatosa and West Allis-West Milwaukee School Boards voting in favor of starting the year with a mandatory mask mandate for all grades.
Milwaukee Public Schools, Shorewood Schools, and Whitefish Bay Schools all adopted a similar mandate to start the year.
According to the plan approved by the West Allis-West Milwaukee District Monday, elementary school students will wear masks until a vaccine becomes available and then for six weeks after it’s made available. Students old enough for a vaccine will continue to wear masks until cases begin to trend downwards again.
In Wauwatosa, the mandate is part of a sliding scale plan. If COVID-19 infections remain below 10 cases per 100,000 people, masks will remain option, if it increases to 10-50 cases per 100,000 people, masks become optional for vaccinated students while mandated for unvaccinated ones, and if the case load jumps to 50 or more cases per 100,000 people, the mandate goes into effect for all students, staff, and teachers.
During its meeting on Monday night the Oak Creek-Franklin School Board voted 6-1 in favor of keeping masks optional to start the year. Both Burlington and Cudahy schools held meetings regarding masks but took no decisive action.
Wisconsin’s rolling seven-day average for new daily COVID-19 cases is at 1,087. The Milwaukee Health Department says there are currently 301 active COVID cases among kids 18 and under.
A list of k-12 schools and colleges requiring masks can be found here.