Parents Sue Wisconsin School Districts After Children Test Positive for COVID-19

A student receives a temperature check before class as they return to in-person learning in a file photo. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

Several Wisconsin parents are suing two school districts after their children allegedly contracted COVID-19 from a classmate.

Lawyer Frederick Melms filed the lawsuit on Oct. 5 in the U.S. Eastern District of Wisconsin on behalf of parent Shannon Jensen, other parents, and Waukesha School District public school students. The suit was filed against the Waukesha district and board, alleging the district failed to implement proper mitigation protocols.

On Monday, another parent, Gina Kildahl, filed a separate complaint against Fall Creek School District (FCSD) in Wisconsin as well as its board, superintendent, and board members.

“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,” Kildahl’s complaint said.

In an interview with CNN on Tuesday, Kildahl claimed her son contracted COVID-19 after he came into close contact with another student who was allegedly infected with the virus and wasn’t wearing a mask. Her son is now asymptomatic and is fine, she said, adding that her lawsuit was filed because she’s worried about the long-term effects. Neither Kildahl nor her husband contracted the virus, she said.

Numerous studies have shown that children have an extremely low risk of death, hospitalization, or suffering long-term effects from COVID-19, known as “long COVID”—as compared with other age groups.

“I am just hoping that they will start masking and take some responsibility to keep our kids safe at school,” Kildahl told the broadcaster. “On my school’s website, on all of their board documentation, they say that they want to provide a safe place to learn. And I think that to do that, especially with the Delta variant out there, they need to start masking kids.”

Jensen’s lawsuit, meanwhile, asserts that a classmate of her son came to Rose Glen Elementary School with COVID-19 symptoms last month and wasn’t wearing a mask. She said her son was seated next to the allegedly infected classmate despite wearing a mask, adding that her other children also tested positive for the virus.

It’s not clear if any of her other children were asymptomatic or suffered other effects from COVID-19.

The lawsuit is seeking an injunction to compel the Waukesha School District and other defendants to adhere to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) guidelines on masking.

The Epoch Times has contacted the Waukesha and Fall Creek school districts for comment.

Waukesha School District superintendent James Sebert declined to address the lawsuit in comments to the Journal-Sentinel.

“We have been in contact with our attorneys and on the advice of our counsel, we have been advised not to comment further at this time,” Sebert said.