FREEMAN BOARD LIMITS ADMINISTRATIVE AUTHORITY
After more than two hours of discussion in special session Thursday night, Aug. 27, the Freeman Public School Board voted 3-2 to stick with the back-to-school plan acknowledged earlier this month that uses a three-tiered system to determine what level of COVID-19 mitigation efforts are in place.
The board action Monday night was a rebuke of the administrative decision requiring masks that began this week, because the district has not moved to a Tier 2 level. District administration began requiring students and staff to wear masks in the hallways between classes on Monday because of the close contact between students during that time.
Freeman Public is currently in Tier 1, which strongly encourages the use of face coverings as opposed to mandating the use of face coverings.
Tier 2 would trigger the requirement of masks when a case or cases of COVID-19 has been confirmed in the building.
Tier 3 means extensive cases and would shut down classroom instruction.
Even with Monday’s board action, teachers will still be allowed to require masks in their classroom on an individual basis.
Board members who voted to restrict administrative decisions that vary from the plan acknowledged by the board were Cody Fransen, Mark Miller and Kyle Weier. Board members who voted against the action were Slade Ammann and Corey Gall because they felt it limits the flexibility afforded district administration.
EARLIER REPORT
Beginning Monday, Aug. 24, students in grades 6-12, attending Freeman Public, as well as all staff, will be required to wear face coverings when in the hallways between classes. Up until this point, masks were highly encouraged.
In a message sent to parents Saturday afternoon, Superintendent Kevin Kunz said this was an effort by the district to be proactive rather than reactive as COVID-19 cases continue to rise. The state announced on Saturday that the number of confirmed cases was up 249 — the largest daily increase yet in South Dakota.
“We are observing far too many students within confined areas where physical distancing is just not possible,” Kunz said in his message. “Please understand that this situation is in not any way the fault of our students, but simply as byproduct of the number of students we are fortunate enough to have in our building.”
Kunz said the reinforced the primary goal of the district — to keep students, staff, families and the larger community safe amidst the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
“When everything is said and done, we may never know whether our actions were too cautious,” he said. “However, we will certainly know if we did not do enough.”
