The Safe Learning Plan announced by Governor Walz is all about providing informed flexibility to school leaders, parents and teachers.
As we get closer to back-to-school time, school districts around the state are announcing their plans for how they will begin the next school year.
Whether students will be back in the classroom or staying at home and distance learning or some combination of the two scenarios will be up to local school officials to decide, with guidance from health officials, based on the number of COVID-19 cases in a particular county.
On a recent statewide program hosted by Northern Community Radio, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz acknowledged that doing what it takes to contend with the virus is not without a cost.
“As we are learning more about COVID, where it spreads and how it spreads, we can adjust the decisions that we are making,” said Governor Walz.
Still Governor Walz hopes the state’s localized, data-driven approach will give school leaders the tools they need to make the best decisions for their local community.
Local schools know what their schools look like. They know the space they have, they know what their filtration system looks like. They know what’s happening in their community,” said Governor Walz, “And I think that coupled together, all of that data, all of that local knowledge and the support that the state is going to give in testing, in PPE and masks, all of those things gives us a fighting chance here. And I tell you this as a twenty-year teacher and the parent of a 13-year-old; our kids need to be in the classroom.”
You can read the state’s 21-page Safe Learning Plan for yourself. It’s posted on the Minnesota Department of Education website.
“I see people telling me ‘Governor get kids back to school’ – 100 percent on board with you – but there’s an addendum to that. Get kids back to school safely, and I think that’s what this plan does,” said Governor Walz.
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