(ANOKA) – School officials continue to monitor public health data as they consider whether to make changes in learning models, like when to hold school in person. When recent data showed an increase in COVID-19 numbers in Anoka County, the Anoka-Hennepin School District announced it has postponed any decision for moving elementary students to full in-person learning. Elementary schools in the district have been on a hybrid plan since school started. Officials were watching the numbers to see if full in person learning was feasible, but Superintendent David Law told the school board even before the numbers jumped that he was not ready to make that recommendation.
“Schools with full in person experience a higher rate of staff quarantine. We could be trading full in person for more frequent disruptions as staff said,” said Law. “We’ve been monitoring that data very closely, whether it be Wyoming Elementary in the Forest Lake School District, or other districts where at a single site they had 7 teachers have to quarantine. We have no desire to put ourselves in full in person, only to put full schools at home for distance learning.”
The district says planning teams meet each week to review data and provide recommendations. If the learning format changes, officials say parents would receive a two week notice before they take effect.
