Gov. Walz Announces School Reopening Plan; Districts Allowed to be More Restrictive

DULUTH, Minn. – Gov. Tim Walz, a retired teacher himself, announced what’s being called the school “Safe Learning Plan” for Minnesota.

The plan allows individual school districts to decided student learning plans this fall based on the prevalence of COVID-19 cases in the county schools are in.

Gov. Walz stressed the pandemic is impacting schools and communities across the state in very different ways, which is why he’s allowing school districts to tailor their reopening plans based on his office’s guidelines.

“This is a localized data-driven approach to making sure school districts where it is physically possible to teach our students we will do that,” says Gov. Walz.

The three re-opening models available to schools are in-person, hybrid, and distance learning.

The models can shift if cases of COVID-19 spike.

If the 14-day county level case rate per 10,000 people is below 10, the schools will be able to reopen completely in-person if the districts so choose.

School districts will have the opportunity to make more restrictive decisions than even the state suggests.

Parents are open to decide if they want their children to be taught in a classroom or at home.

“If your child has underlying health conditions if you do you if there are extenuating circumstances if you feel that’s not the appropriate way for your child to go back they will be provided a learning opportunity that will allow you to distance learn,” said Gov. Walz.

The Duluth School District has spent the summer figuring out its reopening plans.

As of Wednesday’s pandemic numbers in St. Louis County, the district would be permitted to go back to fully in-person teaching, but the administration is still preparing for all options ahead.

“Our plans for hybrid, in-person, and distance are all very well developed and now with the new criteria coming forward we just have to make sure that that is inserted within those plans so we are using that criteria to make our choices based on the plans we have in place,” says Superintendent John Magas of Duluth Public Schools.

Duluth students will be required to wear masks and maintain social distancing if they do come back to school.

The state of Minnesota will also be issuing all teachers and students a mask to make sure everyone is protected.

“I want to make sure that our parents know that we are working as hard as possible that we are first ensuring the safety of all of our students and staff and we are also very seriously considering how we can maximize learning for all of our students to make sure everyone has the best learning opportunity possible,” says Magas.

As the virus could potentially surge, other hybrid options would involve younger children going to school while keeping older students at home.

The Duluth School District says they will release some information on this school year’s plans within the next week.

The full school reopening plan can be found here.