Reopening update
An e-newsletter from Mounds View Public Schools
September 16, 2020
Student meals
Meals will be available for Mounds View District students TODAY (Wednesday, September 16) for curbside pickup from 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. at the following sites.
Chippewa Middle School (5000 Hodgson Road, North Oaks)
Edgewood Middle School (5100 Edgewood Dr, Mounds View)
Highview Middle School (2300 7th St NW, New Brighton)
Irondale High School (2425 Long Lake Rd, New Brighton)
The bag will contain five breakfasts and five lunches. Meals will be FREE to all students. Families and students will not need to provide a name or PIN number to pick up the meals.
The District will provide more information in the coming days regarding how meals will be distributed in the blended (hybrid) learning model.
Blended learning begins next week
Starting Monday, September 21, families who have chosen blended learning should plan for their students to attend school in the cohort groups already announced. Group 1 students will attend school in person on Mondays and Wednesdays each week. Students in Group 2 will attend school in person on Tuesdays and Thursdays. If you’re uncertain which group your student is in, please contact the school. Students who have chosen distance learning will continue with that model.
Schedules for Fridays
Students in grades K-5 will attend school in person every other Friday. For students in middle schools and high schools, every Friday will be a day of learning. This “Learning Plus Day” offers secondary students additional in-person or online enrichment or support based on their individual needs. Teachers will be in school and offer opportunities for students to visit school as desired or needed.
Despite some appearances, all schools will be open
Anyone driving past some schools lately might wonder, “How will construction activity end in time for school to start?” Be assured that summer construction efforts will not prevent schools from opening on time for the first day of school. All schools will be ready to welcome students as planned. Also remember that construction at Irondale High School, Sunnyside Elementary School and Valentine Hills Elementary School will continue as planned through the beginning of the 2020-21 school year. This means that “school” will look different at these sites, as workers continue to make progress on expansion and improvement efforts while classes are underway simultaneously.
Stay home if...
Has your student had close contact with someone with COVID? Are you waiting for your student’s COVID test results? If so, and even if they’re not feeling ill, please keep your student at home from school.
The Minnesota Department of Health says:
Your child must not go to school, child care, or youth programs if they:
Test positive for COVID-19.
Show symptoms of COVID-19.
May have been exposed to COVID-19.
Are waiting to get tested, or waiting for COVID-19 test results.
If your child has symptoms of COVID-19 or tests positive for COVID-19, they must stay at home in isolation and away from others as much as possible for at least 10 days (counting from the day their symptoms first started or the day they were tested), and until their symptoms get better and they have not had a fever for 24 hours (without taking medicine to lower the fever). Even if they feel better, they must stay home for the full 10 days. These steps help to keep children and staff in schools, child care and youth programs safe.
Before sending your student to school make sure to review the daily health screening tool.
Press 1 if ill or COVID positive
Families are asked to report student absences by calling their school’s attendance line. Please leave the spelling of your child’s name and the grade, along with your name and phone number. If you are calling to report a student’s absence due to an illness or positive COVID test result, you will be asked to press 1 to be transferred to health services. For all other absences not related to an illness, you will simply leave your message after the tone.
Moving between learning models
Students are permitted to move from blended to distance learning at any time. Students who request to move from distance to blended learning can do so during "natural breaks" in the academic calendar. To account for potential staffing changes, these breaks will occur at the end of each quarter. Schools will send additional information in the coming weeks about the process and deadlines for moving from distance to blended learning.