Submitted by Crookston Public Schools Superintendent Jeremy Olson
The governor gave three very important tasks to MN School Districts: 1) provide childcare for critical sector workers, 2) continue food service, and 3) provide distance education for the remainder of the school year. I wanted to give the community an update on how we are accomplishing the Governor’s tasks and fulfilling these crucial roles.
Crookston Public Schools is providing two childcare sites at Washington Elementary School and Highland Elementary School for school-age children of critical sector workers as defined by guidance from the Governor’s office. We separated the sites to provide better social distancing and to prepare for the possibility that if one site was needing to be shut down based on a public health recommendation for an actual or precautionary quarantine that the other site would still be able to serve our critical sector workers. This was a precautionary move to try and support our critical sector workers to the fullest extent possible not only for the safety of our workers and kids but also as a pragmatic way to improve social distancing.
On the Food Service front, our staff is providing 800-900 meals per day for the kids in our community. We are serving lunch and breakfast combined (the breakfast is for the following day to cut down on the number of contact points). The primary way that this is done is a grab and go option out of Highland School. For those families that have transportation challenges or inability to come to the school, we are providing a delivery option. We are asking people to reserve the delivery option for those people that need it as we are stretched very thin with our current deliveries and want to make sure that we reach everyone. If you would like to take part in this program for your students, please stop by Highland Elementary School between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. to pick up meals.
Distance learning has been a very interesting move to make as a district. We had eight days as a district to plan for this mode of learning and I feel that the distance learning staff has done an outstanding job in this short window. We knew at the start of this that changes and adaptations would need to be made based on the feedback we received over the course of implementation. There were several trials and frustrations, and this is certainly not the mode that anyone would prefer to deliver instruction in. As educators, we entered the profession because we enjoy face to face instruction and interactions with your students. While our teachers are doing a great job in finding ways to interact with students during distance education, it is not the same as face to face interactions. We really miss your students and cannot wait until it is safe to have face to face instruction and interactions with your students. We have three more weeks of distance education, with May 22nd being the last day of new instruction, and reserving the week of May 25th for device check-in and finalizing any late work or helping students who have fallen behind. Continue to give us feedback on how this is working as we are hearing some feedback and making adjustments to support our families.
While we hope that face to face instruction will begin this fall, we know that the situation most likely will look different than a traditional fall which may necessitate social distancing practices that we have not seen in schools previously. We will await making decisions for this fall until we have further guidance on what public health requirements and recommendations will be and adjust our procedures accordingly. Whatever comes our way, we want to make sure that we are keeping our kids and staff safe and that our practices are responsible. We certainly understand the function that schools perform both educationally and as a safe and nurturing environment for our kids.
Teacher Appreciation Week
This week is also Teacher Appreciation Week. If you are able to, please remember to thank a teacher for their work. Our teachers continue to step up to meet the needs of our students even in very challenging times. They continue to be concerned for their students, help students individually, and in some cases are providing help for students well outside of normal hours. They teach because they care about your kids and are passionate about student learning. Please remember to thank a teacher as they continue to do so much for our kids!
Upcoming Important Dates and Events
May 13: Originally Scheduled as a 2W Day- this day will now be a full instruction day.
May 22: Last Day of Distance Education-catch up work will be accepted until May 27. Graduation- details will be announced shortly as we are still getting parent input.
May 26-May 28th: Device Return-details for this return will be announced.
June Activities: All district activities for June are canceled with the exception of some distance summer school activities. Foodservice and childcare will be announced at a later time once we have some direction from the Governor’s office.
July activities: We are awaiting making decisions for activities scheduled in July until mid-June/early July so as to ensure that we are working with the most up to date guidance.
I would be remiss if I did not point out how thankful our school staff is to the first responders and healthcare professionals during these trying times. We so appreciate the work that you are doing in keeping our community safe and just knowing that we have such great health services in this community is reassuring.
Thank you again for your support of Crookston Public Schools! I greatly value this community and the support that you continue to show our schools! We are here for you!
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