Thursday night included a disappointing announcement from the Blooming Public School District.
A COVID-19 outbreak among staff prompted the district to immediately suspend in-person for all early childhood, preschool and elementary grade levels, including grades 3-5, will resume on Friday, Feb. 12.
According to Rick Kaufman, a COVID-19 coordinator in the district, 8 people are infected and another 12 are quarantined.
"It's a significant outbreak that's impacting our entire office, staff, and a few of our drivers and bus aids in our transportation department," Kaufman said. "We can't provide the high quality transportation that we do for our students to bring them into school."
In-person learning for early childhood, preschool and elementary grade levels began January 19. Third through fifth grade students were set to return on February 1.
"The rollercoaster of cases in our community really does create uncertainty, stability, and chaos," Kaufman said. "That's frustrating for our families, staff, and for us to try and get into some sense of normalcy in this pandemic."
Vaccinations in the Bloomington district have been going on for about two weeks and like every other district across the state, Kaufman says it's a waiting game to see when they will get more doses.
"We wish, hope, and believes they'll increase," said Kaufman.
Staff at high-risk of suffering complications from the virus have been targeted, including transportation staff.
"In many cases our drivers and bus aids are retired individuals," he said. "These are individuals who are more at higher risk because of their age and underlying conditions. Some drivers and aids have been vaccinated. Overall, we need that number to grow just like other districts."
Nearby, Saint Paul Public Schools will bring back pre-K through second grade students on Monday for in-person learning. It's a decision that the Saint Paul Federation of Educators is asking District leaders to reconsider.
"Why the rush," said SPFE Vice President Leah VanDassor. "Now we know there's a vaccine. We can take our time, do this right, and do this safely."
In a statement, St. Paul Schools superintendent Dr. Joe Gothard said the plan follows state guidelines
“Since September we have spent more than 70 hours meeting face to face with SPFE leadership. We’ve talked about and agreed to many provisions to ensure safety on our busses, throughout our buildings and in each of our classrooms. Their input has been considered in our plans to return to school.”
VanDassor says pushing the start date back even by one month would alleviate a lot of their concerns headed into Monday.
"Parents and families would have a better time deciding what to do about virtual or in-person learning because they would know that teachers and staff have been vaccinated."
On Thursday, the Union responded to this week's vaccine distribution saying it was, "A serious mishandling of these vaccinations and communication blunders."
Students in grades 3-5 will return to full-time in-person learning on February 16 in St. Paul.
