Dane County health officials cannot prohibit private schools from holding in-person classes until the state Supreme Court makes a formal decision on the matter. In a 4-3 ruling Thursday, the court issued an injunction temporarily blocking a Dane County emergency health order that sharply limited in-person instruction and agreed to hear the case. Justices Patience Roggensack, Annette Ziegler, Brian Hagedorn and Rebecca Bradley were in the majority, with Bradley writing a separate opinion. Justices Rebecca Dallet, Ann Walsh Bradley and Jill Karofsky dissented. Get daily updates on the Packers during the season. Those in the majority argued that Janel Heinrich, the director of Public Health Madison & Dane County, does not have the statutory authority to close schools and that she overstepped in an emergency order Aug. 21 requiring all schools in the county, public and private, grades 3-12, to begin the year virtually. The plan allowed different grade levels to return to in-person instruction based on a scale of various public health metrics. Kindergarten, first and second graders are allowed to attend school. Three petitioners asked the Supreme Court to weigh in on the Dane County order, arguing that shutting down in-person schools violates their First Amendment rights […]
