Alderperson Hartzheim's Speech Against AASD's "Discriminatory And Indiscriminate" Masking Policy

On 09/13/2021 Appleton Alderperson Sheri Hartzheim (District 13) held a press conference outside the Appleton Area School District's Leadership Center in Downtown Appleton and called on the District's administrative team and Board of Education to stop their discriminatory masking policy and accommodate religious and personal belief exemptions.

She as well as two members of the public then sought entry to the leadership center in order to make public comment during the Board of Education meeting that started after the press conference, but they were all denied entry unless they agreed to wear masks.

I apologize for missing the first few seconds when she introduced herself.

"I'm not speaking on the part of the Appleton City Council or fellow Council members. And this is regarding the current masking policy in our schools, and the district administration is prepared to bar me and other concerned tax payers, parents of AASD children from entering this building.

The following comes directly from the district's website, "Masks and face coverings are required at the Leadership Center for onsite public input. If you do not have a mask, one will be provided to you. If you are unable to wear a mask for any reason, please utilize one of the other methods--virtual, or written--for public input. Individuals without a mask or face covering will not be admitted.

This policy is a tyrannical doubling down of the inadequately researched and public health coerced masking policy that is already in place for our children in our schools. All in the name of public safety. It is now clear to me and likely most of you here that this is no longer about the safety of our schools for our children and our teachers, but instead about a dictatorial power grab by this district.

This district relies on Wisconsin State Statute 118.001 which gives them, quote "Broadly construed powers to authorize any school board action" unquote, but they've conveniently neglected the last part of that statute which states that school board actions cannot be quote "prohibited by the laws of the federal government or of this state" end quote.

A tax paying constituent must be able to speak his--or to his or her elected representatives in a public setting, one that is paid for by the taxpaying public, during public input portion of any open or notice meeting without wearing a face covering. Take for example a parent who is unable to submit public comment written online, unable to get online participation virtually, and who has a medical or religious or personal conviction mask exemption. In that case, open meetings law is clearly violated by this district policy.

Wisconsin Statute 19.81 states that all meetings of governmental bodies shall be publicly held in places reasonably accessible to members of the public and shall be open to all citizens at all times. Subsection 2 of that same statute has also been court case tested to require that no person may be systematically excluded or arbitrarily refused access. For our children and district employees, this district allows only a medical exemption from their masking policy. The district administration has stated that even medical mask exemptions are vetted by their school nurses--as if we the parents and our children’s physicians together cannot possibly be trusted to know what is medically right for our children. As if school nurses and public health officials know more or what's better for our children.

This district's explicit exclusion of a religious or personal convictions exemption of this masking requirement unlawfully defies the First Amendment of the US Constitution and section 18 of the Wisconsin State Constitution granting the free exercise of religion and in the state constitution the rights of conscience. What it boils down to is the Appleton Area School District has not thoroughly performed a risk benefit analysis on the masking policy for their district employees or school children. They rely on their science in favor of universal masking but disregard any conflicting scientific opinions or research. They have continued to double down on what they believe are the benefits of masking without at all taking into account any of the risks that masking poses for our school children--risks already known and risks as yet to be determined.

It has also become clear through several first-person accounts in the last week of treatment of some of the district's children that the current masking policy is both discriminatory and indiscriminate at the same time. District administration and staff are apparently incapable of consistently determining which masks are acceptable and which are not. In fact, I was made aware that in one of our high schools a consulting physician for the district okayed the mask of a child only to have the principal state that the school nurse disagreed, at which point the consulting physician changed her mind and sided with the school nurse and the mask was then rendered unacceptable. Arbitrary and capricious rulings such as these cannot be tolerated.

I have also heard from a grandparent who specifically sews masks for her high anxiety grandson who has hypersensitivity to textures and wears glasses which regularly get foggy with inappropriately fitting masks. But this past week, her grandson was forced to remove his homemade mask and replace it with a blue paper mask which, as you can imagine, irritated him. That teacher reportedly explained to this child that if he didn't want to wear a blue paper mask he could quote "sit in the principal's office all day". And the most disconcerting part of this incident is that the mask that the teacher deemed unacceptable was the same make and model of masks that he wore all the second half of last school year without any issues. This is asininity.

I have been told that one high school teacher publicly shamed a student in front of his classmates for wearing what she deemed an inappropriate mask, with the following proclamation. "You are going to get these kids in this class sick and my kids sick." This unacceptable behavior in our public schools has been brought on by the unchecked and untenable policy set forth by this school board and administration.

Families in this school district have been forced to believe the false dilemma that we either universally mask or we get the virtual schooling. Notice I said "false dilemma". There is not an either or here. If there were all of the mask optional private schools in the Fox Valley would be closed right now. We should not be tricked into or settle for this false dilemma simply because last school year was a bust and led to greater suffering and failure for our children than we could have imagined.

Today I and many other intelligent, educated, and free-thinking taxpaying individuals of this school district expect that we will be barred from attending this school district's open meeting to speak to these issues on behalf of our children and on behalf of this community. I believe that it's time for the taxpayers in the Appleton Area School District to stand up and state firmly and clearly that we do not consent to illegal treatment by our public servants and that we will not comply with these mandates which have not been thoroughly vetted and proven to do more good than harm to our children. We must demand of the district both a religious and a personal convictions exemption and simultaneously urge this district's leadership and school board to move swiftly to a non-discriminating mask optional policy. Thank you again for being here."