Cloquet will bring high school back full-time

Cloquet High School students will return to full in-person learning effective Tuesday, March 16. That is happening despite the objections of the teachers union, which requested the district delay the return until April 6, the start of the fourth quarter, to more safely address the risks of Covid-19.

Superintendent Michael Cary said he brought it to the Cloquet school board for a vote Monday rather than just an FYI because of the letter from the Education Minnesota Cloquet executive board, which noted it was representing roughly 50 percent of the teaching staff.

Reasons given by the Ed Minnesota board centered around the risks, as summarized below. Teachers at the high school will be fully vaccinated by April 6, not before. Variant strains of the coronavirus are on the rise. March is the time for winter sports playoffs, so teams could better limit their exposure in distance learning. While many other area schools have returned to full in-person learning, Cloquet is the largest high school in the county. Bigger high schools in Duluth have not yet returned to any in-person learning. And starting in person with a new quarter will offer students and staff a “fresh start.”

Cary told board members that the points offered by the union are valid, but he still recommended coming back on March 16.

“Bottom line, the reason we exist as an organization is for the education of our children,” Cary said. And we know that we’re not seeing the same result educationally with our kids on distance learning as we’re seeing in person. And all of our staff will have their first dose of the vaccine — if they wanted it — by this week.”

Additionally, Cloquet elementary and middle school students are in a full in-person model and they haven’t seen issues of people getting Covid in school, he said.

Finally, Cary told the board, the current Covid rates reported for the county — which lag by about 10 days — are as low as they were at the start of school.

“And we’re still trending downwards,” he said, explaining that he and other superintendents meet with county health officials weekly. “The good news is that Covid in Carlton County is at a really low level, probably since sometime in the middle of summer.”

Board members Ted Lammi and Nate Sandman had previously pushed Cary to try for a quicker return to school than April, which he had proposed two weeks ago, so both of them were happy with the March 16 date. So was board member and former superintendent Ken Scarbrough.

“I totally agree that every day of school we can have face-to-face is important,” Scarbrough said. “The risks are just skyrocketing for kids who are away from school — academically, socially and emotionally.”

Board member Dave Battaglia sided with the teachers in the vote, pointing out that the high school students are already in a hybrid-learning schedule and spring break starts March 29, so it won’t mean that many extra days of in-person learning. He also pointed to the new Covid variants hitting the Twin Cities, and an outbreak of Covid in youth sports in Carver County.

“You could be throwing all your seniors out of their playoffs if something happens [testing positive for Covid] to anybody in their grade,” Battaglia said, adding that a Hibbing player just tested positive and is out for two weeks. “That affects boys and girls hockey, boys and girls basketball. I just don’t think it’s a bad idea to hold out until after spring break.”

Battaglia pointed out that kids who are really struggling to pass are already back in school full-time.

“There are kids that are having trouble too, probably an A or B student dropping to Cs because they’re not engaged,” Sandman said, referring to the fact that those kids are not in school every day.

Scarbrough and Cary clarified that student athletes could choose to stay in or move to distance learning until the start of the fourth quarter, they just have to notify the district they’re returning at the quarter break.

“But we shouldn’t hold up a whole high school just for athletes,” Sandman said.

The board voted 4-2 for the March 16 date, with Battaglia and Hawk Huard voting “no.”

According to a district email sent to parents Wednesday, students will get a day off Monday, March 15, to allow teachers to prepare for the shift to full in-person learning. Students can choose distance or in-person learning, but they can’t stay in a hybrid model. Parents need to fill out forms to switch children from distance to in-person or vice versa by March 12, or call the school after that date.

According to the letter, the asynchronous learning day will continue on Fridays until spring break, then switch to Wednesdays. Families are asked to still follow all the Covid-19 precautions and to keep students at home if they aren’t feeling well or if they live with someone who has a pending Covid test.

As reported in the Pine Knot News on Feb. 26, most other Carlton County schools returned to full in-person models even more quickly. In Moose Lake, high school students went back to school four days a week starting Feb. 16, Wrenshall went back on Monday, March 8, and Esko returned on Tuesday, March 9. Carlton plans to return next Monday, March 15, one day before Cloquet.

Some districts did not have to endure the long stretch of distance learning. In Barnum, students transitioned to a four-day a week in-person model in October, and that has mostly continued, even when county numbers crested this winter in November and into December. At Cromwell-Wright, all grade levels have been able to go to school fully in person except for two weeks in November.