Parents To Protest Oak Creek-Franklin's Virtual School Start

OAK CREEK, WI — Days after the Oak Creek-Franklin Joint School District board approved a plan for students to return to school fully virtual to start the fall semester, a protest is being planned over the move.

"Despite CDC guidelines and American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations that in-person learning is what children need to be successful, they went with the loud minority opinion," protest organizers said. "The Oak Creek Health Department has established threshold requirements unattainable with the current abilities of the testing provided for COVID diagnosis."

The protest will be held Thursday at 4 p.m. at the Oak Creek-Franklin Joint School District building, 7630 S. 10th Street in Oak Creek.

Oak Creek-Franklin's virtual model is the starting point for a phased-in approach that was adopted by the board. Under the phased-in approach, district officials will review when they can go back to an in-person model.

The school year will start virtually on September 1 and district officials will review reopening criteria. That criteria is based on a COVID-19 scorecard that's updated every week. The soonest face-to-face instruction could begin at Oak Creek-Franklin schools is October 1.

"The board has followed the recommendations of the minority political group YES for Oak Creek Schools who represent themselves as parent advocacy group but are really focused on pushing the agenda of the teachers union and the referendums of the school board," organizers said.