(CNN)Ongoing conflict between parents and schools over virus mitigation for children in the classroom has gone to court in Wisconsin, where a mother is suing her son’s school over his Covid-19 infection.
The lawsuit was filed in federal court last week by Shannon Jensen against the Waukesha School District and asks that the district follow guidelines from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
CNN has reached out to the school district.
Currently, vaccines are only available to children 12 and older. Especially for unvaccinated children, the CDC recommends that schools employ multiple layers of protection, including mandatory masking, distancing, handwashing, testing, disinfection and quarantine and isolation.
Officials and members of the public alike put a high priority on getting students back into in-person learning at the start of this academic year, but how to do so has been a flashpoint for dispute nationwide. In some places, parents have protested restrictions implemented by school officials, and elsewhere, they are asking for more.
Jensen said in court documents that she sent her three children to Rose Glen Elementary School for the 2020-21 school year, and that the school implemented masking, temperature checks, plexiglass dividers and contact tracing.
But this school year, the district voted to remove most mitigation, including masking requirements. The family had their three children wear masks daily, but other students did not do the same, according to court documents.
In September, Jensen said, her oldest child tested positive for Covid-19. According to court documents, she isolated all three children to prevent spread.
The school notified families that two students tested positive in her son’s classroom around the time of his infection, but a parent later told Jensen it was four.
The lack of mitigation and delay in communication about infections was a risk to the community, she said. Her son had attended community, church and Cub Scout functions before testing positive.
“The School District of Waukesha’s refusal to implement reasonable Covid-19 mitigation strategies, not only affected our immediate family, but if we had been notified sooner of my oldest son’s close contact with someone who was diagnosed with Covid-19, we could have prevented possible further community spread of the virus,” Jensen said in the court declaration.
Source: here