Confusion Over Elmbrook COVID-19 Threshold Changes

BROOKFIELD, WI — A group of parents expressed frustration after their emails had gone unanswered when the Elmbrook School District changed its preventative measures when COVID-19 cases reached certain thresholds. An outdated guidance document was left on the school website as of Wednesday, causing confusion.

The document – posted in January 2022 – stated that unvaccinated staff would have to go through screening and visitors would have to wear masks while inside school buildings unless the Elmbrook School District counted less than five community COVID-19 cases in a day. Those requirements were reversed in a March 1 email to parents.

The school district will no longer require volunteers and visitors to wear masks unless engaging with students in required classrooms and unvaccinated staff members will no longer have to participate in weekly testing while community case rates are low, school district administrator Chris Thompson told Patch.

The district follows the U.S. Center for Disease Control's community guidance, the district said in an email to parents. The community level of COVID-19 rates in Waukesha County is low, CDC data showed.

The outdated January 2022 document for coronavirus thresholds and indicators was still visible on the school district website on Wednesday, and Thompson told Patch the changes were made six weeks ago.

One parent, who asked to remain anonymous, said they sent an email to the district asking why the old document was still up, but didn’t receive a response. They told Patch multiple parents sent similar emails and had no reply.

Here were some of the changes made on March 1.

• Masks will no longer be required on Elmbrook buses or vans
• Healthy volunteers and visitors aren't required to wear a mask unless interacting with students in mask-required classrooms
• Unvaccinated staff members aren't required to participate in weekly testing
• Students aren’t required to have a lab-confirmed negative test in order to return to school after a suspected case. Students can also return to school if they don’t have fever, diarrhea or vomit for 24 hours without medication and have abating symptoms.

The seven-day average for new cases in Waukesha County was 96 new cases on Tuesday, school district data showed. The seven-day average for new cases for every 100,000 people in the county was 24.

Editor's Note: An earlier version of this article stated that unvaccinated staff members would have to go through COVID-19 screening and visitors would have to wear masks while inside school buildings unless the Elmbrook School District had less than five cases in a day. Unvaccinated staff won't be required to screen and visitors won't be required to wear masks at all.

A previous article used data from the Department of Health Services to measure cases in Brookfield. The Elmbrook School District is already collecting its own COVID-19 data.