St. Cloud Board Of Education OKs Hybrid Learning For Start Of School Year
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- As the start of the school year inches closer and closer, more districts are unveiling their plans for how they plan to kick things off.
On Thursday, St. Cloud's school board announced plans to start the 2020-2021 year with a hybrid learning model. They said they based their decision on the state's Stay Safe Minnesota matrix and from the latest local health data.
The plan will see students in grades 6 through 12 learning in school two days a week (alternating either Monday and Wednesday or Tuesday and Thursday) and three days of distance learning. The same will go for elementary students in grades 3 through 5.
Kindergartners and students in grades 1 and 2 will learn in school from Monday through Thursday, at 50% capacity guidelines with social distancing, and learn from home on Fridays.
Preschoolers will be learning in school two days per week, alternating either Monday and Wednesday or Tuesday and Thursday.
The district said some students who are in special education or multilingual programs would attend Monday through Thursday and distance learn on Fridays.
They are leaving themselves open to relaxing the learning models in the event that COVID-19 transmission rates dip at some point during the school year.
"We know that COVID-19 case rates fluctuate, and local health data may at times require us to transition to either a more or less restrictive learning model. If the case rates rise to a point that requires us to be more restrictive (such as moving to K-12 distance learning), we will transition on the Monday following the data release," the district reported.
