Milwaukee parents lash out against mask mandate revival: 'a bunch of bullies and cowards'

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Milwaukee moms sound off on mask mandate policy

Milwaukee moms whose children attend the German Immersion School spoke to Fox News Digital on their thoughts on the masking policy which requires masks to be worn if the community COVID-19 levels reach a certain threshold.

Milwaukee, Wis. – Parents in the Milwaukee School District who said their children suffered wearing masks are outraged about the new policy for K-12 schools which activates a mask mandate when community levels of COVID-19 reach a certain threshold. 

The Wisconsin district superintendent, Keith Posley, mandated masks for students and teachers if the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determines community levels of COVID-19 are high in Milwaukee. As of Thursday the community level was medium. Parents in the Milwaukee public school district, who spoke with Fox News Digital, said it could interfere with their children's learning and affect their mental health. Some also said pulling their kids out of the district over the mandate is on the table. 

Fox News Digital spoke to an employee in the Milwaukee Public Schools district, who is also a parent of children in the schools, on the condition of anonymity who called the policy "foolish" and that it makes "no sense."

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"Mask mandates as they are currently make no sense," the parent and district employee said. "Mandating masks when this is the only district [in Wisconsin] to do so just looks foolish."

James Cain has two children in the Milwaukee who are 4 and 7 years old. He believes the district's leadership are "cowards."

James Cain has two children in the Milwaukee Public Schools district.  (Fox New Digital/Hannah Grossman)

"I believe that they're a bunch of bullies and cowards," Cain said. "I think they should grow up and stop being corrupt and start being leaders and teachers instead of [playing] politics."

The dad's youngest child will be starting public school this year for the first time. "But my oldest, with the masking she just… feels very restricted… [and] very controlled. She's just unhappy. She's very down when she comes home, stuff like that. And… [it] just takes a lot out of her."

"Pretty much any parent I've met isn't happy with it," he said about the mask policy.

"I… don't want to do this to my 4-year-old," a mom named Trisha Zila told Fox News Digital.

Trisha Zila is a Milwaukee parent of two children who attend the German Immersion School. The mom told Fox News Digital that she sees a different future for her child in the public school system. (Fox New Digital/Hannah Grossman)

"There's so many reasons to remove your kids from public school right now… I'm here fighting for the mask to be removed and so my kid can continue to go to school. But I do foresee a different future of education in my child's future," Zila said.

"And like here at German Immersion [School], it's a language there are all day in German. It's a second language to these kids. They should be able to read their teacher's mouth," she said.

"It's time to let the reins down and let the parents make the decision. It's my choice what my kid does and their health… It's your job to teach and educate my child," Zila said. 

Another mom, Natalie Bettin, has two children attending the German Immersion School. She has communicated with her daughter that if the back-and-forth with the mask mandates continues, they will need to look for alternative to public education.

Natalie Bettin speaks to Fox News Digital at the German Immersion School in Milwaukee. She said that masking kids "is not normal" and "will never be normal in my eyes." (Fox New Digital/Hannah Grossman)

"I just feel like, what are we doing? This is not normal. It never will be normal in my eyes. This is not how we were raised. And I just think it's time. It's these kids are telling us like they're just ready. The mental health crisis is far more of a pandemic we have to be concerned about," she said. "They're not even going to know how to talk to peers down the road because they've been masked for so long."

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"In the beginning, everyone when they didn't know what was going on, they went ahead and went with what the district decided," Zila said. "Anyone I tell my kid has to wear a mask to school. They cannot believe it. They laugh."

Parents whose children attend the German Immersion School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, told Fox News Digital that it was imperative their children who are learning a second language be able to see their teachers' faces.  (Fox New Digital/Hannah Grossman)

Another parent, Brian Gorski, said that the masks caused his daughter to get headaches. Because of this, Gorski said he was willing to pull his daughter out of the school if masking continues.

"My daughter got headaches, and she was complaining constantly about her headaches," he said. If his daughter would pull down the mask to her chin in school to get relief, Gorski said his child was repeatedly told to put it back on. 

"I got calls [that] ‘you need to have your daughter wear the mask or else,'" he said. 

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Brian Gorski speaks about his daughter's struggle with masks outside of Bay View Montessori School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  (Fox New Digital/Hannah Grossman)

"It's so bad – the powers that be," Gorski added. "I just want to get the message out there for all the other parents. Don't give up," he said.

Fox News Digital reached out to the district for comment but did not immediately receive a response.  

In Wisconsin, parents have organized against at least 17 school boards in recall efforts relating to the way the members handled COVID-19, according to United Press International. 

Bay View Montessori School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  (Fox News Digital/Hannah Grossman)

In one of those districts where a recall effort took place, Kenosha, parents protested the mask mandates last year by threatening to keep their kids home on the date where enrollment is counted – which would determine the district's funding, according to Wisconsin Public Radio. 

Fox News Digital also spoke to a former teacher in the Milwaukee district who said he didn't understand the lack of trust for health experts on the issue. 

"I always thought we should follow what the scientists were saying," said Matt Parlier, a former computer science teacher who retired during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

"It's just following the CDC or whatever the government advice is. And I think those people might know more than me when I haven't had a science class since the 1980s," he said.

Milwaukee's policy is derived from the CDC recommendation to wear a mask when COVID-19 community level is high.

A student wears a mask during class.  (AP Photo/David Goldman)

"It seems to me that we should. Politicians and media and our community leaders should have enough humility to follow the advice of people that have been studying infectious disease for decades, rather than going with their own opinion or some other popular opinion of people that may or may not have even had a science class in decades," the former Milwaukee teacher said.

When asked whether students who have specialized learning programs – for speech therapy, for example – should be given flexible accommodations, like a plastic barrier, so that they can read his or her teacher's lips during classes, he responded, "That would make sense to me. Yeah."

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"I mean, MPS there are a lot of special needs kids, there's no doubt about that. So I would think that would be helpful."

"But again, I would think any kind of mandates now is going to be a temporary one," he added.