St. Peter Catholic School in Middleton, Wisconsin, was set to start the first day of brick-and-mortar school next week, but an order abruptly released Friday night by the Department of Public Health for Madison and Dane County, limits classes to remote only. 

“We had worked hard to follow policies,” Katherin Klaas, principal at St. Peter Catholic School, told the Wisconsin Catholic Tribune. “We developed protocols, purchased sanitizer, and gel to make sure everything was safe. Parents and students participated in our annual all-day meet-and-greet Friday in preparation for the first day of school, but we got the message at about 5:30 p.m. that the county had closed the schools.”

The Aug. 21 order, which applies only to 3rd grade through 12th grade and does not exempt parochial school, was signed by Janel Heinrich, health officer of Public Health for Madison and Dane County.

“Given our current case count, we believe moving students in grades 3-12 to virtual learning is necessary for the safety of our community,” said Heinrich in a statement online.

However, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health, only 110.5 cases have been reported in Dane County. Statewide, 70,009 coronavirus cases and 1,081 deaths have been reported. 

“I am in disbelief that this is happening at this point,” Klaas told the Catholic Tribune. “We asked for the metrics and we’ve heard nothing back so we are encouraging parents to call the public health department and our Dane County executive to make their voices heard because it’s an injustice. There’s no rationale in issuing this order at 5:30 p.m. when we were supposed to start school on Monday.”

The order allows daycare facilities to open as well as kindergarten through second grade exclusively.

“My daughter is in kindergarten so she will be able to attend Blessed Sacrament next week,” Kara O’Connor, who resides in the City of Madison, told the Catholic Tribune. “A lot of the other parents I’ve talked to would like more clarity about what changed in the last week to precipitate this order. An unintended consequence of such late notice is that other families have to find care for their children on short notice and may have to avail themselves of options that put the community at greater risk.”

County officials issued the order on Friday evening -- just 60 hours before schools were set to resume, according to a tweet by Bishop Donald Hying, fifth bishop of the Diocese of Madison.

“Last night, Dane County ordered the closure of all schools, giving us 60 hours notice. Our schools were poised to open safely and responsibly. COVID data does not support this decision. Please contact Joe Parisi, County Executive, to voice your thoughts,” Bishop Hying tweeted Saturday morning.

Parisi, a Democrat, reportedly supports the closure, according to media reports.

“What’s interesting is the disconnect between daycare being allowed to reopen but schools, for some reason, are not and schools offer learning,” Corey A. DeAngelis, director of school choice at the Reason Foundation and adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, told the Catholic Tribune. "It's totally logically inconsistent to allow a daycare to open, which is very similar to a school, and then not allow schools to reopen.”

DeAngelis added that one way to get around the regulation is to certify private school employees as daycare providers. 

“Another thing they could do to get around the regulation is to renumber their grades to 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3, for example, instead of grade 1,2, 3 and 4 since the order only applies to grades 3 through 12,” DeAngelis said. “It would highlight the ridiculousness of the rule.”