Racine Sun

The Kenosha Unified School District’s regular school board meeting rescheduled to Aug. 26 from Aug. 24 took place virtually with public comments that in part criticized the online meeting.

The board ended the Aug. 24 meeting because a crowd wouldn’t follow its request to social distance, WTMJ-TV Milwaukee reported. A controversial issue before the board is a mask mandate, and several people had signed up for the public comment portion of the Aug. 24 meeting.

Sixty people signed up to speak virtually at the Aug. 26, meeting, Board President Yolanda Adams said during the livestream.

“The politician trick tonight to have this meeting virtual. I realize you don’t want to hear from folks that disagree with you and maybe it’s a little easier for you to act contrary to our interests when you don’t have to see us personally,” Kevin Mathewson, who was first to comment, said during the livestream. “The people are speaking, and we don’t want you to force our children to wear masks.”

On the agenda was the administrative recommendations for its “Better Together” plan update that included the use of masks.

“Masks will be highly recommended for students in grades 7-12, staff instructing grades 7-12 and staff who work at the Educational Support Center,” the update said. “Masks will be required for K-6 students and staff while inside until children under the age of 12 have the ability to be fully vaccinated.”

Mathewson, who said during the livestream that he is vaccinated against COVID-19, doesn’t support mandates and doesn’t want his children forced to wear masks.

“I spoke to my children today about if they want to wear masks at school, and they said, ‘We probably will sometimes, and probably won’t sometimes. Sometimes we want a break, and we’ll probably want to take our masks off so we can catch our breath and try to get some fresh air,'” Mathewson said.