US Education Secretary Kicks Off ‘Return To School Road Trip’ In Eau Claire

U.S. Secretary Miquel Cardona launched a five-state bus tour Monday in Eau Claire to highlight the return to in-person learning at the nation’s public schools. Cardona stressed the importance of COVID-19 mitigation efforts, such as indoor face mask requirements, are key to keeping schools from moving classes online amid the pandemic.

Cardona’s “Return To School Road Trip” is a bus tour of K-12 schools that kicked off at Eau Claire’s Locust Lane Elementary with a tour of the school and a pep rally featuring a local high school band. The event was held outside with all students, teachers and parents wearing face masks.

Cardona said he was glad to see mask requirements and other coronavirus mitigation strategies being used at the school.

“It’s our ticket to safe reopening, to uninterrupted learning,” said Cardona. “Imagine if these students had to be interrupted and the school had to close for two weeks at a time.”

Eau Claire Public Schools, like most others, held classes virtually for much of the 2020-21 school year.

On Aug. 25, the Eau Claire Area School District announced it would require all students to wear face masks while indoors starting Sept. 1. During a school board meeting Aug. 16, parents held a rally outside the district’s administration building and called for masks to be optional.

According to the district’s COVID-19 dashboard, 34 students tested positive Sept. 5-Sept. 11. The district reported 414 students quarantined that week.

On Monday, Pfizer released company findings that show its coronavirus vaccine is safe and effective for children ages 5 to 11. The company said it plans to share the data with the Food and Drug Administration “as soon as possible” as it pursues an emergency use authorization needed to begin vaccinating children younger than 12 years old.

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“At the end of the day, we want to make sure we’re giving students a chance to be in the classroom,” said Cardona. “They’ve lost enough in this year and a half. And I’m not just talking about academics — their engagement with their peers and their social emotional support. So we need to keep them in the classroom. And if that means requiring vaccines in the schools, I support that.”

After departing Eau Claire, Cardona’s bus tour was scheduled to stop in Madison and Milwaukee, before continuing on to Illinois, Ohio, Indiana and Michigan.