COVER FEATURE
by B.C. Kowalski
The News in Review It’s our annual tradition: Taking stock of the most significant news of 2021 The kids are not alright
Yes, it’s a play on a song called “The Kids Are Alright” by The Who. It was the title of a cover story City Pages ran last year, about the need for more mental health professionals in the community. We looked at the data, from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Children and adolescents each survey (they’re conducted every two years) reported increasing instances of suicidal thoughts, feeling unsafe, depression and just about everything else associated with poor mental health you can imagine. So much so, that the Wausau School District last year in a referendum sought and obtained permission to spend $4 million annually to hire more mental health staff — counselors, social workers, psychologists — to address those growing needs of students. One example, from School Counselor Andy Grimm: their G Suite (Gmail, Google docs, etc) has a feature that flags words like cut, kill, etc. In a five-month period in 2019, there were 108 words flagged. In 2020, that same period yielded 143 such flags. That’s all before COVID-19 reared its ugly head. The last Youth Risk Behavior Survey was 2019 — 2021’s was delayed because of COVID, but surveys went out and wrapped up Dec. 10. They should be released soon. Who knows what it will say; but it would be a shock if the mental health situation amongst kids hadn’t gotten worse, even if it’s a shock we’d all hope for.
Wausau School Board elections/ referendum/COVID
▲ Andy Grimm, school counselor, and Sarah Gardner, school psychologist, are two of Wausau School District’s pupil services team. A referendum in April expanded their numbers, which they said were badly needed to address mental health concerns in schools.
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CiTY PAGES
December 30, 2021 - January 6, 2022
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When the county board took up a resolution to recognize Pride Month, this reporter admittedly didn’t see the resulting chaos coming. It’s a lesson I wouldn’t forget. A Community for All repeated that drama with a 10x multiplier, including a New York Times story that ticked off people who lean left and right for its portrayal of the area. (Read the comments if you can stomach the cringe.) For those who somehow missed it, a resolution inspired during the George Floyd incident from the county’s Diversity Affairs Commission called No Room for Hate emerged, and was rejected by the county board. The board also rejected the new version of A Community for All.
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It’s hard to wrap up this thread in a way that mostly encompasses 2021, because the start of this whole story went back to the start of the pandemic. Things kicked off when the Wausau School District didn’t open up as fast as some parents would have liked in fall 2020, which led to protests and to new, more conservative candidates running for school board.
Going on at the same time, seemingly unrelated but connected in the minds of many voters, was a referendum that would have closed Grant Elementary and merged Lincoln and Grant under a brand new school. And that was after the district very quickly abandoned a plan that closed and merged a number of schools. Some didn’t like the idea of closing Grant — some thought renovations were a bad idea during a pandemic (interestingly an idea that seemed shared by left and right voters) — and a few folks seemed to still think the original proposal of major closings and mergings was still on the ballot in April. The district passed annual borrowing to pay for more mental health staff, but making major improvements failed in 2021, though by a much tighter margin than the fall 2020 referendum. Voters in April will face yet another referendum, this time with no mergers or closings. The district will be asking for $182 million to fix and update its facilities, improve security, improve the fine arts and sports facilities. It’s everything from inefficient windows and lights, to fancy synthetic sports fields. That came after surveys, input sessions, and plenty of feedback. District leaders are hopeful it will pass.
Apply IN PERSON Today!
Lincoln Wood ProductsEmployment Office
1400 W Taylor Street, Merrill, WI 54452 Mon-Fri, 7:00AM – 3:30PM or by appointment We are an Equal Opportunity Employer.
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We used to take the week between Christmas and New Year’s, since the week is typically slow for news and events. It allowed us to bring you a big double holiday issue. But now we’re doing things a little differently. So, instead, we make this intermediary issue a chance to reflect on the year as it nears its end, and take a “30,000-foot view” of the news as it played out last year. Here are the top stories we covered in 2021. Many of these are ongoing and might make next year’s list too. So enjoy this look back on the year, some with a few updates.
