As schools struggle with returning to the classroom during the coronavirus pandemic and positive tests hitting record numbers in the state, one Waukesha County community is launching a recall effort against three board members who voted to begin the school year in a hybrid model.
A group called Oconomowoc Citizens Represented filed paperwork on Sept. 17 with the Oconomowoc Area School District to start a recall against board members Juliet Steitzer, Kim Herro and Scott Roehl.
Members leading the recall charge are upset over board members' decision not to approve a model that features having students in the classroom five days a week.
In August, the board approved a face-to-face cohort model at the elementary levels and a split attendance model at the intermediate and high school levels. Steitzer, Herro and Roehl all voted in favor of the proposal, along with Dan Raasch and Rick Grothaus.
James Wood and Jessica Kornowski voted against the proposal.
"There's about six of us," said Jason Baumann, a member of Oconomowoc Citizens Represented. "We're all concerned parents in the district that are not happy with the way things are going in general with our district with our school board."
The group said Steitzer, Herro and Roehl "willfully neglected to act on behalf of the citizens of the district. In addition, their negligence to ensure that the district provides the best educational opportunities to maximize the achievement of our students will have significant and lasting effects on our community."
RELATED: An Oconomowoc Area School District student has tested positive for coronavirus
Raasch and Grothaus are not eligible to be recalled since a board member must have served a minimum of one year of their term for which they were most recently elected, according to state statute. Raasch and Grothaus were elected in April.
Steitzer's term expires in April 2021, while Herro and Roehl's terms conclude in April 2022.
The district confirmed it has received a statement of intent from the group.
"Throughout the summer months, the district worked tirelessly to prepare and plan for multiple learning models in the 2020-21 school year," the district stated in a news release. "These models are agile enough that the OASD can move from one to the other based on changing local and school health conditions as seamlessly as possible. The OASD will continue to monitor local health conditions and prepare to make further adjustments to learning plans if necessary."
The district added the board will discuss any changes to the plan at Wednesday's school board meeting.
Baumann said there are concerns from members in the group that students won't return this year to school five days a week in person and will eventually go completely virtual.
The group has 60 days from the filing date to gather enough signatures to recall the three board members. To move forward, each petition must contain the signatures of at least 25% of the votes cast within the Oconomowoc Area School District from the gubernatorial election in 2018.
To be eligible to provide a signature, a person must be of voting age and live in the district.
The group also created oasdrecall.com to inform people of their recall efforts.
Roehl said he wanted to take a "phase-in" approach to beginning the school year.
"I share the goal of returning to school in a full face-to-face model," Roehl said. "The difference is in the approach. The community has referenced that a large majority of families elected to start school in a full face-to-face model. I was part of that majority. From my perspective as a board member, to ensure that we are not putting our students at risk, a soft launch to the school year will provide greater clarity as to the effects of the virus when our students are back in session. As of this week, the data and our district metrics are trending in the right direction, so barring any major changes to the data, I see a return to a full face-to-face approach on the horizon."
According to district data published Sept. 18, 50 students are in quarantine, 36 are in isolation and four have tested positive for COVID-19. Five staff members are in quarantine and one is in isolation.
Students and staff are in isolation when they have COVID-19 symptoms or have been confirmed to have the virus. They're in quarantine when they have had contact with someone who has COVID-19.
Herro said it is the community's righissue a recall. Herro, who is a proponent of outdoor learning, wished the district took advantage of that option with the old Meadow View School and its surrounding land.
"We could have easily opened (full-time) Sept. 1 if we would have utilized our resources," Herro said. "But we didn't use our resources."
Steitzer could not be reached for an interview.
RELATED: We're tracking COVID-19 cases in Wisconsin schools. Know about a case? Tell us here.
TRACKING THE VIRUS: Is coronavirus in your school? Check out our database.
Contact Evan Frank at (262) 361-9138 or evan.frank@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Evanfrank_LCP.
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Oconomowoc school board members who favor a hybrid model could face a recall from a group that wants in-person learning - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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