District considering return of students

Governor Tim Walz said elementary schools could return to in-person classes on Jan. 18, regardless of county Covid case rates, as long as they adopt a number of strategies to contain the spread of the coronavirus, including a testing program for all staff who interact with students.

But it’s still up to individual school districts to decide if the conditions are right, bearing in mind the greater need for younger children to have in-person instruction.

On Monday Cloquet superintendent Michael Cary told school board members that district administrators have been trying to make plans to bring students back to school for either hybrid or in-person learning.

They’ve already brought just a few students back, he said.

“We have been making limited use under the state learning plan, which recommends if you can, you try to bring back high-need special ed students or other at-risk students who are falling behind or not making adequate progress online,” he said, explaining that the principals have crafted a flow chart of sorts that teachers have to go through to determine if a student qualifies to come back in person.”

Only a limited number of kids have returned, he said, estimating about a half dozen at each elementary school and about 20 at the middle school. “We’re trying to identify those kids who really can’t function well in a distance environment and try to make sure they get the support they need,” he said.

Cary said he will continue to watch the Covid rates in the county, which spiked in late October and early November, but have declined over the previous two weeks, while considering how to bring students back to school en masse.

“We’ve seen new cases, but the rate of new cases are actually dropping,” he said. “We’re going to watch this Friday and if they decline again, that’s hopefully a good sign for our community.”

Still there is much to think about on the operational side of things, he said, including whether they can keep the buildings staffed and if the measures they have adopted will prevent any additional spread of Covid-19.

Hybrid models put more of a burden on the elementary schools, Cary said.

“It’s actually harder to staff the hybrid plan at our elementary schools than it is to staff the full in-person plan,” he said. “That’s because you still have to operate all your classrooms in the hybrid plan, you still need the supports for the children, but you also need to run the childcare.

Staffing is also an issue because of quarantine guidelines, which can’t be reduced by the state’s new recommendations because teachers can’t maintain a 6-foot distance from others, which means they have to quarantine 14 days instead of seven.

Cary said the district may send out another survey to parents during or after spring break, or have teachers talk with their students’ families about that they’d like to see.

“I know some school districts have set dates for a return, but we haven’t because we don’t want to give false hope,” he said.

The latest state data for K-12 schools regarding the 14-day case rate by county (for number of positive Covid cases per 10,000 people) was 185.99 last week, although the data actually referred to Nov. 11-28, down from 190.21 the week before.

In other matters, Cary said Cloquet is down about 25 students in terms of enrollment, which is almost exactly how many students chose to home school this school year. Compared to other districts, Cary said he thinks that’s pretty good.

“I’ve heard of other neighboring districts who’ve lost more students than we have, even though their enrollments are significantly smaller than ours,” Cary said. He’s hoping the state will help make up the funds lost this year to home schooling, but said he’s confident either way that it will be a one-time loss, explaining that he’s talked to a number of parents who say their kids will return to the district “once we go beyond Covid,” Cary said. “I’m hopeful this is just a one-year downturn in our enrollments.”

Also Monday:

-This year’s “Cloquet Triple A” award winners were announced, with seniors Benjamin Bauer and Katelyn Kelley selected to represent Cloquet. The award is given to one male and one female student athlete each year who demonstrate excellence in Academics, Athletics and the Arts. The award itself is also a competitive process. Next, the two award winners will proceed in the process to select the top two Triple A winners for Section 7AA.

-The board approved Tyler Olin as the new varsity baseball coach.

-The board took the next step toward committing to renovations that will create a new Career and Technical Education space at the high school to be shared by vocational ed and art students. The remodeled space would include updated wood and metal shops, a computer lab, a new art room with a kiln space and a new fabrication lab to be shared between all the classrooms. To pay for the renovation and additional equipment, the school district would bond for approximately $1.9 million. Todd Hagen from Ehlers Inc. told board members that now is a very good time to bond, with interest rates at 1.43 percent for bond issuance. Money for the $1.862 million project will come from a capital facilities bond, not from the property tax levy. The project is expected to go out for bids next, with construction taking place over the summer if all goes as planned. Ideally it will be ready for the 2021-22 school year.

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Sports allowed a limited return

Under new state guidelines announced this week, youth sports will be allowed to resume practices on Jan. 4 in smaller groups with heightened precautions, and with Covid-19 preparedness plans in place. The state plans to release additional guidance later about how those practices should be conducted.

Between Dec. 18 and Jan. 3, outdoor workouts, practices, training or skill-building is allowed for teams, provided that there are no spectators, there is no more than one coach or supervisor present, and there aren’t participants from more than three households. Physical distancing must be maintained.

Games won’t be allowed until later.

— MPR News