Parents Sue School Districts After Their Kids Caught COVID-19

Two families from Wisconsin have filed lawsuits against their local school districts after their kids caught COVID-19. Officials at the School District of Waukesha and the School District of Fall Creek rescinded many of the coronavirus prevention measures put in place last year when students returned to in-person learning.

Despite the lack of a mask mandate, Shannon Jensen and Gina Kildahl sent their kids to school wearing masks as an added precaution. Unfortunately, the masks didn't help, and their children tested positive for COVID-19. Jensen said that one of her sons tested positive on September 19, and another one of her sons tested positive a few days later. They both missed several days of school as a result. Jensen said school officials knew about the positive tests and told parents that quarantining their children was optional.

"It appeared there was an outbreak in the classroom and a substantial delay in notifications going out to the parents," Jensen's lawsuit says. "There was no actual contact tracing being done in the school, just blanket informing parents when a child in the class had tested positive, usually several days after."

Kildahl said that her son tested positive on September 27 and had to miss two weeks of classes. She blamed school officials for failing to create a safe environment for students.

"By bringing students back to class around unmasked staff, reinstituting extracurricular activities, and allowing potentially contagious visitors and volunteers into the schools without masks, FCSD and the BOARD threw students into a Covid-19' snake pit' creating an affirmative duty to keep their students safe from Covid-19," the lawsuit filed by Kildahl says.

The lawsuits are seeking class-action status and are being funded by Minocqua Brewing Company Super PAC.

"Ultimately, we don't want a lawsuit that lasts a year," Super PAC founder Kirk Bangstad told WTMJ. "We want an injunction where a judge says, 'Until we suss out what the defense has to say and what the plaintiffs have to say, we're gonna put masks on kids too young to get vaccinated.'"

He said that they are working on filing a third lawsuit against another school district.