Schools continue dance with Covid

Some local schools are reacting to a rise in local Covid-19 cases with a change in learning styles, while others are holding steady, largely because they started the school year doing something other than in-person learning for all grades.

The trigger for the change is a "county health number" put out by the Minnesota Department of Health every Thursday morning that shows a two-week average of Covid cases per 10,000 people. Last Thursday, that number came in at 11.24, crossing the benchmark of 10 per 10,000 that requires secondary students to adopt a hybrid learning style, while elementary students can continue with in-person learning.

What does hybrid learning mean? It means that districts must observe strict social distancing guidelines mandated by the state in school and on the buses, along with other requirements.

Not every school has the same setup for hybrid learning.

In most Carlton County schools, there are too many students to allow everyone to attend in-person and meet the mandated distance of 6 feet between students that the hybrid model demands. In Cloquet, that means a secondary student will have one day of in-person learning followed by two days of distance learning from home.

In the Cromwell-Wright school district, on the other hand, the school had enough space to allow all students to attend school in person and still meet the distancing guidelines of the hybrid model.

"This means that all of our staff and students are in the building five days a week, for a typical day," superintendent Nathan Libbon said. "We are able to do this while following all MDH guidelines because of our student body size, building size, and the high level of commitment by our staff to safely deliver face-to-face instruction."

Cloquet made its shift to hybrid learning for secondary students this week, while Barnum is changing Oct. 20 if the numbers remain high. Moose Lake switched to hybrid learning for high school students last week, and they expect to remain hybrid through at least Oct. 23. Esko started its school year with hybrid learning at the high school, so things remain the same there.

Schools that already moved to distance learning are also not changing learning styles, including Wrenshall - which recently switched for all but its youngest learners - and the Fond du Lac Ojibwe School, which started its year in distance learning.

Starting the year with distance learning came with a few struggles, but it also has bright spots.

"We are getting the hang of this distant learning and taking advantage of this new opportunity to use technology in a good way," Fond du Lac principal Valerie Tanner said. "We want to say 'miigwech' to our teachers for the amazing opportunities they are providing our students."

Regardless of learning style, every local school official who responded to the Pine Knot News stressed that they need people outside the schools to also do their part to slow the spread of Covid-19 by wearing their masks and following social distancing guidelines. And all of them reported that students and staff have been great about following guidelines themselves.

"We do need our community members to do their part to slow the spread so we can keep our elementary students learning in person as long as possible and hopefully bring back our high school students full-time as soon as we can," said Moose Lake superintendent Billie Jo Steen.

All school districts also need more substitute workers for all areas (teaching, paraprofessionals, kitchen, busing), so that's another way community members can help out.

Cromwell-Wright

Cromwell-Wright superintendent Nathan Libbon said the K-12 school remains under the same hybrid model it started with.

But it's still challenging for students and staff. Covid has added a new level of continual evaluation and adjustments to adapt to changing guidelines and circumstances, on top of the primary responsibility of educating students.

"I think what motivates us and helps us stay positive is knowing that we would all rather be together, working and learning, than the alternative." Libbon said, adding thanks to parents and community members for their support during uncertain times.

Cloquet

In Cloquet, the school district reached out to parents last Thursday to let them know the middle school and high school students would start hybrid learning on Wednesday, Oct. 7. Those students got Monday and Tuesday off so teachers could prepare. Elementary school students and teachers continued with in-person learning.

Cloquet superintendent Michael Cary said students attend school on a three-day rotation under the hybrid model. Students are assigned to an A, B or C group and attend school on only the calendar days which match their group; they learn remotely the other two days.

Barnum

In Barnum, district officials are taking more time, superintendent Mike McNulty said, explaining that if the county health number remains over 10 this Thursday, they will switch to hybrid learning at the high school effective Oct. 20.

McNulty said the main challenges come from the changes inherent in responding to the pandemic, including "questions via HR-related subjects, sorting all the new data and information that is thrown at the schools weekly, and properly spending the CARES monies that were due by October 1."

Esko

Because they draw students from St. Louis County as well as Carlton County, Esko secondary students started the school year using a hybrid learning style, so that hasn't changed.

Challenges? "Everything has been challenging," superintendent Aaron Fischer said. "Every protocol, routine and procedure has been disrupted."

He asked for understanding and flexibility from the public.

"The public needs to understand that staffing a building during a pandemic may become very difficult because of the lack of substitutes in every department of the school," Fischer said.

Moose Lake

Moose Lake already switched to distance learning for its high school students while elementary students continue with in-person learning.

Other challenges this year include financial challenges due to decreased enrollment because of an increase in families homeschooling or waiting to send their kindergarteners to school this year. "Also distance learning is challenging because the district was unable to dedicate staff just to distance learning," superintendent Billie Joe Steen said.

Steen gave high praise to students and staff. "[The teachers] are amazing and willing to do whatever is needed to help out students, but I know it is also exhausting," she said. "Students are resilient, and although most probably prefer to be in-person daily, they seem to be taking the change in stride."

Fond du Lac

When there were several positive cases on the Fond du Lac reservation, the school district opted to start the new year like it ended the last: with distance learning. But experience helps, and the school year has gone pretty well so far, said Fond du Lac principal Valerie Tanner. Teachers and students are adapting, and the FDL Ojibwe School Lunch Bunch Crew and FDL Transportation has been diligent in making sure students receive school lunches.

What's been the biggest challenge so far? "Working with all the new technology resources and supporting families and students in the use of the new technology resources," she said, thanking parents for their patience as the process for rolling out Chromebooks was a little bumpy.

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By the numbers

The state guidelines for school districts and learning styles place a lot of emphasis on the “county health number” released by the Minnesota Department of Health every Thursday morning.

If cases climb to between 10 and 19.9 per 10,000 people in the county, the state recommends elementary students attend school in person and secondary students study in a hybrid scenario, often with both in-person and distance learning and always following strict social distancing guidelines. With 20 to 29.9 active cases per 10,000 people, both elementary and secondary schools would study in a hybrid scenario.

At 30 to 39.9, elementary schools should go hybrid and secondary schools should go to distance learning.

If the number of cases exceeds 50 per 10,000, schools would go to distance learning for all.

School districts also consider other factors, with input from local and state health officials, including looking at whether an outbreak is widespread in the county or mostly limited to one area or even one family group.

Although Carlton County is lumped together in most of the state statistics, the numbers of sick students and staff have varied widely between districts.

Moose Lake has not had anyone out — either themselves or because they are a close contact — due to a positive Covid case, superintendent Billie Jo Steen said, adding that they’ve had some self-isolate until they got a negative result.

Esko, on the other hand, has a Covid-19 dashboard that updates visitors on the latest numbers. On Tuesday, Oct. 6, it showed one new case for a total of three active cases, and 10 total cases in the district since the school year started.

In Cloquet, Churchill Elementary School had a case in the second week, and the high school reported its first case last week.

— Jana Peterson, Pine Knot News