GREEN BAY, Wisc., (SPECTRUM NEWS) - Brown County leaders are calling for a community effort to combat COVID-19 as school districts prepare to reopen.

Superintendents joined business and medical executives at Green Bay’s City Stadium Wednesday to make the case for parents to help make their children’s return to the classroom as safe as possible. Each school district has its own plan, but superintendents said they will follow guidance from health officials when they do welcome students back.

“Talk to your children about these guidelines in terms they can understand and accept,” says Kim Desotell, president of Green Bay Area Catholic Education. “Get children and others used to wearing masks and social distancing.”

Executives from Bellin Health and Prevea said Wednesday they hold weekly calls with local school districts to assess risks and benefits associated with each back-to-school plan.

“I think we all can agree there are many benefits to the kids getting back to school, and it’s something that we all want,” Bellin Health CEO Chris Woleske says. “But we need to mitigate the risks.”

Working parents with children on a virtual curriculum face a very difficult stretch looming during the pandemic. Woleske urged employers to be as flexible as possible this fall.

Just outside the gates of the former home of the Packers, team president Mark Murphy joined the chorus of Brown County leaders calling for a team effort to combat COVID-19. Just as the community rallied to save its NFL franchise in the past, Murphy called for a similar attitude in creating a path out of the pandemic.

“There’s not going to be any magic bullets,” Murphy says. “It’s not going to immediately go away. But I am very confident, as a community, that we can get through this together.”