Cloquet superintendent addresses school plans and COVID-19

Cloquet school district posted the following message to its website Sunday evening, regarding the order by Gov. Tim Walz for schools to close from March 18- 27( to plan for a possible move to distance learning:

Parents and Guardians,

Governor Walz addressed the state today to outline next steps for schools and other agencies in addressing the evolving COVID-19 situation. District leaders and principals met today to review the Governor’s expectations and to prepare next steps for working with our staff to support our community. The Governor announced that all schools will close from March 18th-27th in order to plan for the possibility of a longer closure. School will be open, as usual on Monday and Tuesday (March 16th and 17th).

Should a longer closure be necessary, schools will communicate a plan to provide distance learning for students and distribute meals to students in need. At this time, we are expecting school to resume on March 31st following our planned spring break. Should things change before then, we will send out additional messages to notify families of the change.

It’s important to note:

There are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in a staff member or student at this time.

The Minnesota Department of Health will continue to support schools and will communicate any confirmed cases to school officials.

If confirmed cases would arise, we will work with the Department of Health to determine if school closure is appropriate.

School staff will be working over the closure to identify a distance learning plan for students and meal distribution for students in need. This plan would be communicated and enacted if a longer closure is needed.

School staff will be creating a plan to provide emergency workers with child care for their district enrolled school-aged students, ages 12 and under, per the Governor’s direction. This is intended to ensure that emergency workers are able to continue providing critical support to the community. We will share who is covered under the Governor’s definition as an emergency worker and procedures for accessing this care in future messages.

These are unusual times. We want to thank our families in advance for your support and cooperation as we work to plan for the support of our children and community.

Dr. Michael Cary, Superintendent