Greendale School Board Meeting Roundup: Masks, Mental Health

GREENDALE, WI — Community members voiced concerns about mask policies, district referendums and social-emotional learning at the Greendale School District Board Meeting Monday night.

Most items on the agenda were only informational: the board made no decisions on mask policies. The district will continue to refer to CDC guidelines on masks.

Those CDC guidelines currently recommend mask policies remain in schools. COVID-19 vaccination is only authorized for children as young as 12, but clinical studies are already trying to bring that age down, according to an article by Lesley McClurg from KQED.

Over 750 people in the district responded to a survey last week on how the district should move forward with COVID-19 guidelines. 65percent of individuals responded that CDC guidelines should be used.

Not everyone agreed with those CDC guidelines, though.

"We don't know the damage that robbing children of seeing the faces of their peers will cause," one public commenter said.

The topic of mental health also circulated through multiple public comments. Masks, virtual learning, technological inequities and isolation were among the reasons cited for students' challenges in the district, according to public comments at the meeting.

Nearly 1 in 6 school-aged children exhibit symptoms of a mental disorder, most often anxiety disorders, according to a CDC study.