More than one in 10 Minnesota schools in Minnesota has had an outbreak of COVID since the start of the school year, according to the latest numbers from the Minnesota Department of Health.
Sixteen percent of all of the state's pre-K-through-12 schools have reported a COVID outbreak, defined as five or more cases in students and staff. Gov. Tim Walz said this week he would not, at this point, declare another peacetime state of emergency, so Health Commissioner Jan Malcom says lawmakers need to take action.
“This is not in any way saying this is not urgent,” Malcom said. “I can’t forecast what the legislature will or won’t do but I think our focus is trying to work with them and get them the information they need to see why these recommendations are being made.”
Recommendations include more strict masking and vaccination policies, which currently are up to individual districts.
With that in mind, teachers, at least in Minneapolis Public Schools, say more investment is needed to keep teachers and students safe.
Even with the time, experience, and a vaccination mandate for teachers, many still feel uncomfortable in the classroom in the third school year affected by the pandemic. Union leaders are concerned that safety could be the reason some teachers step away from the job, which is why several dozen picketed in front of Jefferson Community School Thursday night.
“We know what it takes to keep our kids in school safely,” Minneapolis Federation of Teachers president Greta Callahan said, “and that means online options at the site level, adequate staffing, smaller class sizes, N95s for all at a minimum. All of that together is going to help create safer schools which is going to help keep our kids in school.”
Edison was the biggest quarantine headline to begin the school year which forced the entire student body into online learning. Callahan and the union are also calling on more regular testing and using American Rescue Plan funds to hire more staff.