Parent urges district to invest staff capacity to address recent executive order changing ‘sensitive areas’ designation

During public forum at the Eau Claire Area School Board meeting, parent Katty (Kathy) Barona Lopez addressed the board about a recent executive order that removed K–12 schools’ designation as “sensitive areas.” She said district families and staff received directives about how the district plans to address the change and thanked the district for the communication received that afternoon.

Barona Lopez urged the board to “continue to invest in the personnel that are tasked with understanding how a variety of executive orders will impact our schools and our school communities now and in the future.” She said sweeping changes at the state or federal level can alter K–12 education realities “today, tomorrow, and in the future,” and added that the district is currently unprepared for such rapid policy changes. Her remarks called specifically for sustained support for faculty and staff who must interpret executive orders and assess impacts on students, families and the most vulnerable community members.

The board’s public forum also included a second speaker, Adrienne Leland, who spoke as a parent volunteer about programming and invited the board to community events; those remarks were primarily informational and community-oriented. The board did not take immediate formal action tied to Barona Lopez’s request during the meeting, but the superintendent and board members acknowledged the public comment period before moving on to agenda items.