by Mike Knaak
news@thenewsleaders.com
With fewer Covid-19 cases and more vaccinations, Sartell-St. Stephen school district leaders are anticipating changes to the Safe Learning Plan.
Since the beginning of the school year, the percent of positive cases among all students has dropped from 1.27 percent to 0.71 percent. Percent of positive staff has dropped by more than half, from 2.08 percent to 0.75 percent as of last week.
School leaders attribute those improving numbers to the district’s mask requirement and more student vaccinations. As of Nov. 8, the vaccine is available to children ages 5-11.
“If things keep going the way there’re going, we anticipate making changes to the Safe Learning Plan,” said Superintendent Jeff Ridlehoover at the school board’s Nov. 8 work session.
In addition to the mask requirement, the Safe Learning Plan sets out guidelines for quarantine and how to handle positive cases and exposures.
Ridlehoover said compared with neighboring districts without mask requirements, Sartell-St. Stephen’s cases are about 50 percent lower.
“Masking has been a mitigation factor for us,” he said. “We haven’t had to have kids out of school.”
Krista Durrwachter, the district’s Human Resources director, told the board the district’s Covid committee, which includes community members and medical professionals, will review the situation and report back to the board.
Board members debated how soon they will want to make a decision and when, if changes are made, to implement them. The board decided to discuss the situation at its Dec. 1 work session and possibly announce a decision. Changes could come when students return after break on Jan. 3 or three weeks later at the start of the third quarter.
Board members debated the need to give parents as much notice as possible of any changes while also collecting the most recent data, including possible outbreaks during the holidays.
Making connections
Principals of the districts PreK-5 schools outlined an expanded back-to-school program to strengthen partnerships between parents and teachers. Instead of the traditional open house, the principals recommended more time to get to know teachers, explore learning spaces, learn classroom routines and learn about school services such as technology, food, transportation and special education.
The plan also speeds up the timeline so teachers will have testing and assessment data on each student available at the beginning of the school year.
Each family will be asked to schedule a 40-minute meeting with the student’s teacher during the first two days of school.
“The typical open house is a little rushed,” Oak Ridge Early Learning Center Principal Jason Mielke said. “This will give parents a chance to get their questions answered.”
