Board Votes To Change Tosa High Schools COVID-19 Mitigation Level

WAUWATOSA, WI—The Wauwatosa School Board voted 7-1 Tuesday to move high schools to mitigation level 2, which would make masks optional to those vaccinated. Board member Shawn Rolland was the dissenting vote.

School district and health officials previously reviewed a multilevel COVID-19 mitigation plan for the 2021-'22 school year, under which different mitigation efforts would be implemented depending on positive cases in a seven-day period, the plan said.

On Tuesday the board approved the following modifications:

• All unvaccinated individuals in a classroom will be quarantined when there is one positive case of COVID-19 reported in that classroom.
• The requirement for social distancing for large gatherings in level 2 has been removed and replaced with a recommendation of three feet of physical distance.
• All physical distancing requirements in level 1 have been removed. This includes day-to-day activities and large events.

Wauwatosa East and West High Schools will move to mitigation level 2 on Jan. 3.

"The most significant change is that masks are optional for vaccinated individuals and strongly encouraged for unvaccinated individuals in level 2," the district said.

The Wauwatosa School District will not be using vaccination status to monitor and/or enforce mask-wearing.

School officials will determine each school’s appropriate mitigation level based on the school’s internal metrics during the week of Jan. 18.

"The intended level for each building will be communicated to staff, families and students during this week. The change in mitigation level will go into effect starting Jan.31," the district said.