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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

ISD 696 hit with more COVID-19 cases

Keith Vandervort
Posted 10/28/20

ELY - A continuing trend of growth in the number of COVID-19 cases in the Ely area hit the Ely school district late last week.ISD 696 Superintendent Erik Erie said he was notified last Friday by the …

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ISD 696 hit with more COVID-19 cases

Posted

ELY - A continuing trend of growth in the number of COVID-19 cases in the Ely area hit the Ely school district late last week.
ISD 696 Superintendent Erik Erie said he was notified last Friday by the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) of lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) in three members of the Ely school community. 
“This affects both school buildings, Ely Memorial and Washington Elementary, with a last attendance date of Monday, Oct. 19,” he said.
The additional school cases bring Ely’s cumulative total to 43, up from 38 last week, and 36 the previous two weeks. Erie reported seven total coronavirus cases in the school.
“We have worked with MDH to identify those (in the Ely school community) who had close contact with the case(s), and have communicated with them individually,” Erie said. “The risk of exposure for other individuals present in the building on that date is no greater than the risk of contracting the virus in the general community.”
He added, “If you were not identified to have close contact with the positive case(s) you should still monitor for symptoms of illness, but do not need to stay home unless symptoms develop. If symptoms develop, stay home and consult with your physician to determine if medical evaluation is needed. We understand that this may create unease in our community. We have taken action to clean and sanitize the facility and are working closely with MDH to monitor the situation.”
Erie provide an update Monday to school board members during a study session and revealed that students in Kelly Noble’s fifth grade class and the eighth-grade “Red Team” cohort were identified as having “close contact with a positive case of COVID-19.”
Last Thursday, one day prior to Friday’s new school case data report, the district’s Safe School Learning Plan Advisory Council was notified that the bi-weekly coronavirus case rate rose to 25.5.
“In recommendations from the Minnesota Department of Education, once we get over 20 they recommend hybrid learning for all students,” Erie said. ‘We are looking for two data points so we don’t ping-pong back and forth (with learning models).”
Hybrid learning is already taking place in the Memorial building.
“It is now a question of looking at hybrid learning and what that means in the elementary (building). Our recommendation was to remain with the current plan for this week because we are waiting for two data points,” he said.
According to the new information reported last Friday, letters were sent to parents and district employees indicating that Noble’s entire fifth-grade class started distance learning on Tuesday, Oct. 27 and that learning model will be in effect for two weeks. The other fifth-grade classroom is not affected by the model change.
“The only change in the Washington building is for that fifth-grade classroom,” Principal Anne Oelke said. “Our hybrid learning for K-4 remains the same for now. If we need to go into a hybrid model, we would be looking at the A-B (cohort) schedules similar to what is going on in the Memorial building.”
Principal Megan Anderson also notified parents that the 15 students in the eighth grade “Red Team” will also be distance learning for 14 days and return to school on Nov. 3.
“Our nurse did call those families affected, and I followed up with emails and letters to the rest of our school community,” she said.
For privacy reasons, the identity, status or other details about the positive coronavirus cases in the school are not available. The Minnesota Department of Health recommends that every child that was notified of the exposure be tested for COVID-19, even if they are not showing symptoms.
Erie explained the decision-making process of the Safe Learning Advisory Council.
“This can be frustrating when we look at data and consider changing our learning models,” he said. “It does require our parents to make plans around these learning models. I appreciate that our principals are keeping our parents updated so they can prepare for those things.”
He added, “If we have another week where we are in the 20s, or we have significant local (increases), that could also affect our decision making.”
He reiterated that a transition to hybrid learning in the elementary building would largely impact just the fifth grade in establishing split groups or cohorts. Half of the class would attend in-person on Monday and Tuesday, the second group would attend in-person on Thursday and Friday and distance learning would be in place on Wednesdays. The building’s capacity would allow for in-person learning for the rest of the elementary school classes.
Anderson confirmed that one teacher who was in close proximity to a positive coronavirus case is currently in quarantine and distance teaching.
“That teacher is teaching from home, and we have a substitute teacher in the classroom to facilitate the learning,” she said.
“Ultimately, we all want to keep our students in school and we use the data to try to do that, but also recognize that we want to keep our people safe. We don’t want to end up in distance learning. There is a fine balance there,” Erie said.