Superintendent Update 9/28/2020
It is hard to believe we are a month into the school year. With the many challenges we had to face last spring with distance learning, the challenges this fall have more than doubled with our current models of educational delivery. Overall, it has gone well this fall. However, as I have stated many times, there is no model for education better than having all students here everyday.
We have not had any significant outbreaks in our school over the past week. We have some staff out with spouses not employed in the school test positive. These staff members will have to be out for 14 days. As long as we maintain social distancing in our school and wear masks, we stand a much better chance of maintaining outbreaks in our schools.
As reported last week, our numbers have been stabilizing in Stearns County but this will change next week. The Stearns County number dropped a couple of points to 17.73. The numbers reported in our district have also dropped by a little over a point. We use the Stearns County number as a primary factor in determining what learning model we are in and our district number as a secondary factor to look at trends within our district. Stearns County is reporting an uptick in positive cases at the college settings. Most increases continue to be through community transmissions such as weddings, showers, birthday parties, etc. Please take the appropriate steps when attending these events.
Next week we will begin to see the increase from the anticipated Labor Day weekend bump. If in the aftermath of this weekend the people that tested positive can be isolated and quarantined we should be in a situation where we don’t have to go to distance learning. However, this is just one factor that continues to play into our school numbers.
We continue to ask you as a weekly reminder that you please monitor your child(ren)’s health before you send them off to school. It has been those vigilant parents that have held their children at home while they were sick and got tested that has allowed us to keep school going. Also, make sure to wash their masks on a weekly basis to keep them clean.
If you have any questions or concerns do not hesitate to contact me or any of the building principals.
Greg Winter, Superintendent: gwinter@isd740.org
Chad Doetkott, High School Principal cdoetkott@isd740.org
Robert Anderson, Middle School Principal randerson@isd740.org
Terryl Pearson, Elementary School Principal tpearson@isd740.org