CALUMET TOWNSHIP — A special meeting of the Calumet-Laurium-Keweenaw School Board Wednesday centered around the wearing of face coverings for in-shcool instruction during the upcoming school year, which included questions and comments from parents, teachers, and administration. The discussion was in response to the school board’s earlier decision that face coverings would be optional during in-school hours.

One comment, from Danielle Holmstrom, a parent who works as a flight attendant, said that as a safety professional, she needs to know her kids’ safety comes first.

“My kids have been quarantining with me in New York City since May,” she said. “They wear masks every day. They understand. I know plenty of people who’ve had COVID.”

Holmstrom, who flies back to Calumet once a month, said she knows plenty of other parents who fly around, adding that she had a friend who died from COVID-19.

“It’s real,” she said. “Please put our kids’ safety first.”

Colleen Thompson agreed with Holmstrom, saying her 21-year-old son, who was perfectly healthy, is recovering from a COVID-19 infection. He did not have a fever, she said, and did not have a cough, but rather started with a sore throat, a headache, and said he felt like he was being hit in the chest with a baseball bat.

“As a parent of a child, even if he’s 21,” said Thompson, “watching him suffer, watching him try to be strong, watching him go through this was hard for a family. That’s the last thing I want my children to ever endure now, is for them to get sick also, so I as a parent have to take every precaution and do what’s best for my girls.”

Because virus is so new, she said, and not know everything is known about it, the after-effects are not fully known.

“This isn’t a flu,” Thompson said. “This isn’t a cold. This is serious. My son went from ‘Yeah, mom, I’m going to be fine’ to ‘Holy crap, this is no joke.'”

She went on to say that her 8-year-old daughter, a third grader, wears masks everywhere, and is fine with it.

“She said, ‘I don’t want to be the only one. I don’t feel like I’m going to be safe,'” said Thompson. “My 12-year-old, as well: She’s worried about being bullied. If I wear one, what if they all tease me?’ ‘If everyone else isn’t wearing one, what’s the use of me going?’ ‘If no one else is wearing them, how am i going to be safe?'”

Thompson asked the board reconsider their policy of optional face covering, so that her daughters can stay in school. They would love to see their friends again, like everybody else, she said.

“As a parent with a child who has COVID,” Thompson cautioned, “I will tell you this right now: It is no joke. I do not want my children to get it, as well as I do not want any of yours to get it either.”

Superintendent Chris Davidson responded to the bullying topic, saying it has been a huge area of focus for the board, administration, and staff to create a safe, welcoming environment.

“It will certainly be addressed to make sure that no matter the plan,” Davidson said, “all students are respected to the best of our absolute ability.”

Trustee Philip Halonen said his big concern is what he called the “end game.”

“We’re sitting at a very low local infection rate,” he said. “And we’re making a lot of decisions that make people very uncomfortable. I totally understand all the health concerns. If I had health concerns, I would be just as concerned, I’m sure.”

The “tricky part” Halonen said is where to draw the line and say now people are comfortable going back to a normal school day.

“You look at what we’ve taken away from our kids,” he said. “I’m talking about us adults, not necessarily in this district. We lost a quarter of the school year. We lost our kids a chance at a state championship. We canceled the football season.”

Halonen added that the school has heard from a number of graduating seniors who missed out, last year, on a lot of senior activities, while being in a very low-risk situation.

“I understand risk and safety are very difficult things to address systematically,” he said. “But I think we, as adults, need to challenge ourselves and know when do we go back to normal? Do we put value on a normal school day like we all had growing up? Do we put value on the kids actually seeing their teachers and exchanging smiles, and able to see them? Not having all those things is like a cost that we need to consider as a society, not only in this room.”