MADISON, WI (WTAQ) – The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction released guidelines for schools as they prepare to reopen this fall. But that’s all they are – guidelines.
“The department issued guidelines. Guidelines are not ‘You do this!’ And actually their guidelines suggested several different options,” says Governor Tony Evers, “There’s no way that the Department of Public Instruction is telling people that they have to have 10 kids in a room. That’s just not accurate.”
No school districts will be forced to abide by those reopening guidelines. Governor Tony Evers says all decisions will be made on an independent basis.
“Those are options and if school districts want to do something that is not one of those options, that’s where the rubber hits the road and that’s where decisions will be made,” Evers says, “They laid out multiple options for decision makers at the local level to help guide their decision making. That’s what we anticipate is going to happen.”
The 87-page Education Forward document laid out options to help districts with their planning processes to reopen schools. But even with those options, Evers thinks most districts already have a good idea of what they’re doing.
“A school district could identify any or all of those ten [options], or it could be something that they’ve come up with on their own,” Evers says, “It gives school districts a starting place, but frankly, they’ve been thinking about this since the schools closed. So I’m confident that the school districts will be able to figure this out.”