Franklin School Leader Responds To Athletic Controversy

FRANKLIN, WI— Through a letter from Dr. Judy Mueller, the District Administrator, the Franklin School District is responding to controversy around athletics programs and the pandemic's impact.

The statement was shared with football and swim team families and with the media.

The letter, in its entirety, is below.

"As a school community battling the effects of COVID-19, we are deeply saddened and feel for our high school athletes and activities members who are not able to compete or participate in-person at this time.

All through this ordeal with the temporary closure of Franklin High School, including our athletics and activities, we have been working with the Franklin Health Department to do what is safest and best for our students, families, the staff, and the community. The spread of COVID-19 in Franklin is of great concern so we are working together to limit exposure in any way possible that we are responsible for overseeing.

To that end, we have worked and collaborated with the Franklin Health Department to allow our four individual swimming athletes to finish their state qualifying competitions this Saturday under strict guidelines that will help to limit the spread of COVID-19.

Unfortunately, this does not change the outcome for our football players and families. At this time, it is unsafe to offer continued football practice and games seeing as this is a high-contact sport. We are very proud of the successful season our football team was able to have and how the team represented Franklin.

We ask the community for your continued support and to please remember there are humans behind all of these decisions and no one is operating in a way to hurt or punish any student or groups of students. We desperately want to return to in-person learning and to be able to offer our athletics and activities programming. We need everyone on our team to make that happen."