State schools close

People across the state tuned in Sunday morning to listen to Gov. Tim Walz announce that all Minnesota K-12 public schools will close temporarily beginning on Wednesday, March 18.
The closure is to continue through Friday, March 27, or until further notice.
Administrators at Minneota, as well as a few other Minnesota schools, made the announcement on Sunday that schools will be closed for students in K-12 beginning on Monday.
“We decided to close on Monday and Tuesday, rather than wait until Wednesday just to be extra cautious,” said Superintendent Dan Deitte. “We received a guideline packet from the Minnesota Department of Education that deals with everything schools should be doing to deal with the time off.”
Schools are asked to take the next eight days (March 15-22) to read the materials sent by the Department of Education and make plans for things like distance learning and other activities in the event school does not resume by March 30, per Walz’s executive order.
“We will take the time this week to wipe down and disinfect the entire school building as best we can to get rid of any germs,” said Deitte. “These are trying times and maybe by cleaning the school and students staying home, we can prevent this from spreading.”
Beginning on Wednesday, Minneota Public Schools began handing out breakfast and lunch daily to any students who want them until school resumes.
“We sent out a survey on email to all the parents to let us know if they want a lunch for their child or not so we know how many we will need,” said Deitte.
Deitte also announced that any parents (of a Minnesota student) working in the medical field who need daycare will be provided that service for them by the school.

“We need all the medical personnel to be working during this time and not have to stay home because they don’t have a place to take their children,” he explained. “So we will provide daycare for their children at the school so the parents can continue working.”
Also, it was announced that Minneota Public Schools will be cancelling all activities, open gyms, practices, competitions, and scrimmages for all age levels effective immediately. This is including, but not limited to, spring sports, JO Volleyball, Thor Wrestling, speech, band, spring play, class trips, FFA, and any youth traveling basketball practices through March 27, as directed by Gov. Walz, or until further notice.
There will be no access to the Minneota school gymnasiums for any reason, the school said.
“We are trying to keep everyone informed as best we can,” said Deitte on Sunday night. “We are sending out updates on school messenger and on Facebook because we know families are wondering what’s going on.
“Look at what this was like seven days ago. We had 21 cases yesterday in Minnesota and now the number is 35. You wonder what it will be like in another week. The amount of information and how it changes constantly has been the biggest challenge for us.”
Deitte has been an administrator since 1994 and superintendent the past 18 years, yet he has never dealt with anything even close to the current situation involving the COVID-19 outbreak.
“I remember 9-11 being crazy and everyone being fearful of what might come next, but nothing else did happen,” said Deitte. “And there was the bird flu and some other things. But schools have never had to deal with a pandemic like this.”
St. Edward School in Minneota, which shares bus services with the public school, will also be closed beginning on Monday.
“The St. Edward Education Committee met (Sunday) afternoon to discuss what the Governor’s executive order means for us,” said Principal Jaci Garvey. “While many of the provisions do not apply to St. Edward School, as we are a private education institution, we feel that it is prudent and Christian to comply with those that do.
“We have sent a survey to school families in order to determine how we will best serve families during this time of uncharted water. We are asking all families to pray for all those who have or will be affected by the virus.”
Walz said the closure was put in place to accommodate planning between school staff, faculty and administrators with guidance from the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) and the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) concerning the COVID-19 outbreak.
Some Minnesota schools had already announced they would be closing before Walz’s executive order was issued on Sunday. Walz said he supports those schools closing earlier, but he explained that beginning the mandatory closures on Wednesday allowed some flexibility to those needing to retrieve materials from school buildings and gave administrators some time to make plans for things such as e-learning and homework assignments.
The Governor’s executive order came one day after the Minnesota Department of Health announced that there were seven more positive cases of COVIDS-19 over the weekend, bringing the state’s total to 21 as of Sunday (March 15) afternoon. That number then rose to 35 by Sunday night.
“My top priority as Governor is the safety of Minnesota,” Walz said in a televised statement. “As a former teacher, and father of two teenage kids, I’m especially focused on the safety of our children.
“I am ordering the temporary closure of schools so educators can make plans to provide a safe learning environment for all Minnesota students during this pandemic. Closing schools is never an easy decision, but we need to make sure we have plans in place to educate and feed our kids regardless of what’s to come.”
As of Sunday, several other schools in the country have also announced closures, including Alabama, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
“The decision to temporarily close schools was not made lightly, and we are going to keep reevaluating to determine what’s best for Minnesotans,” said Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka. “It’s a very fluid and changing situation. People need to be prepared, not panicked, and use their common-sense.”
House Republican Education Leads Rep. Ron Kresha, R-Little Falls, and Rep. Sondra Erickson, R-Princeton, issued a joint statement following the announcement by Gov. Walz.
“We are fully supportive of the difficult decision to close Minnesota schools in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. This is a step that will have far-reaching consequences for hundreds of thousands of Minnesota families. While our focus remains on helping Minnesotans navigate this crisis, legislators stand ready to assist the administration with legislative changes that are needed to adjust the school year or other requirements and mitigate the countless consequences an extended closure will have.”