Milwaukee schools barred from reopening under city order

[Heisenberg]

Milwaukee schools barred from reopening under city order, though some private and charter schools and universities were planning to

https://amp.jsonline.com/amp/5458663002

Milwaukee schools and universities that have been planning to resume at least some face-to-face classes this fall may need to shift gears, after the city Health Department quietly changed the guidelines for when in-person instruction may resume.

Jim Bender, president of School Choice Wisconsin, said many of the private and independent charter schools in the city had been working on the assumption that they could offer in-person instruction with precautions during the current phase of the city's reopening plan, based on a document posted on the health department's website.

Earlier plans for the city's reopening process showed that schools could reopen during Phase 4, the city's current stage. But that document appears to have been updated on June 25. The latest version bars schools and universities from opening until Phase 5.

"Nobody saw this coming," said Bender. "Schools did not have any sort of consultative role in these changes. And they didn't get any communication from the health department that the changes were being made."