Dear secondary school families,

Last week, Governor Walz set a clear expectation that Minnesota’s secondary schools begin a return to full in-person learning as soon as possible, provided they follow new health and safety guidelines. We can now announce the return to in-person learning for our middle schools and high schools will be on Monday, March 29.

Here are some factors that impacted this decision:

State health officials strongly recommended using Spring Break as a transition time and to include a “buffer week” when students return to school. Their approach was recommended to reduce post-Spring Break COVID spread in the event individuals who may have unknowingly been exposed to COVID manifest symptoms upon their return. Remaining in a blended learning model for the week following Spring Break reduces the potential for large scale quarantines. Following this guidance, students and staff will return to blended learning on March 22 and transition to in-person learning on March 29.

This calendar and the chart below indicates some key dates:

• March 11-12, non-student contact days for all District grade levels

• March 15-19, non-school days for all District grade levels - Spring Break

• March 22-26, blended learning resumes for secondary schools

• March 29, in-person learning begins for secondary schools

In school four days a week

In November, Governor Walz signed an Executive Order which required all Minnesota school districts to provide additional time for any teacher that has students both in school and distance learning. Because secondary teachers will be teaching students both in person and remotely, our middle and high school teachers will need to be provided with this additional time to support their students. For this reason, secondary school students will attend school Mondays through Thursdays. Fridays will remain “Learning Plus Days,” which offers students additional in-person or online enrichment or support based on their individual needs. It will also provide teachers with the required preparation time for recording videos and preparing lessons for distance learning students and personally connecting with students.

In the coming days, your school will send you more specific details including information and protocols around classroom learning, transportation, food-service and other operations. Our schools have been excited to welcome students back to our buildings this week and will be working hard to ensure a smooth transition to this new learning model on March 29.

Sincerely,

Chris Lennox

Superintendent