December 22, 2020

Dear Cannon River STEM Families,                                                             December 22, 2020

 

This is an updated back to school plan from the information you received on Friday, December 18 so please read carefully.

 

As you may have heard, last week, Governor Walz announced updated guidelines within the Minnesota Safe Learning Plan that our school will follow as we gradually transition our youngest learners back to in-person learning in 2021 and our Middle School students back to hybrid learning.

 

The updated plan strongly recommends providing three feet of social distancing for students and six feet for staff. In addition to all students being required to wear masks, all staff will be required to wear face masks and face shield. Also, lunches and other specialist lessons will be held in the classroom to limit interactions between groups.

 

Our plan calls for all students to resume school on January 4 in the distance learning model. Our K-2 students will return to in-person learning on January 19 and our students in Grades 3-5 will return to in-person learning on February 2, not February 1. (There is no school on February 1 as it is a staff development day.)

 

Students in Grades 6 through 8 will resume learning in the A/B hybrid model on January 19th.

 

There will be no school for students in K-8 on Friday, January 15 and Friday, January 29. These are designated as pivot days to help teachers prepare for the transitions.

 

Families who want to continue distance learning beyond the transition to in-person learning may do so. We ask that you notify Margie Wesling in our school office as soon as possible to let her know if your child or children will remain in distance learning. [email protected] 507-331-7836 Ext. 2001. If your child remains in distance learning they must do so for an entire quarter to maintain consistency for all of our students and teachers. The dates for 3rd quarter are February 2nd-April 9th.

 

We are working hard to ensure all health measures are in place school-wide by the dates outlined above so we will provide a safe learning environment for our students and staff. We will continue to provide you with regular updates.

 

I want to thank you all for your patience, support and dedication during so much adversity this year. I hope over winter break you are all able to spend less time in front of a screen and more time bonding with your families and those close to you. There is a great deal to celebrate as we enter a new year, including vaccines that are already starting to be distributed. I encourage everyone to celebrate safely by continuing to follow COVID-19 health and safety measures. Our ability to return all students to in-person learning still depends on our collective efforts to decrease the spread of COVID-19 in our community.

 

I wish you all a safe and healthy winter break and a happy new year!

 

Theresa Gunderson

Interim Executive Director