ELY – As the weekly regional COVID-19 case rate continues to increase, ISD 696 officials are maintaining the school district’s current learning plan for now.
The Ely Safe Learning Plan Advisory Council (ESLPAC) met last Thursday and considered the ramifications of a fourth consecutive jump in the bi-weekly COVID-19 case rate in greater St. Louis County, which helps guide schools during the continuing coronavirus pandemic.
ISD 696 Superintendent Erik Erie updated the advisory council last week, and the school board this week, on the divided county coronavirus reporting data dashboard now in place. Ely is now in the Northern St. Louis County sector, along with Tower-Soudan, Babbitt, Embarrass, Cook, Orr, and Side Lake.
Erie reported last week that the northern county dashboard shows a positive COVID-19 rate of 42.7 per 10,000 people.
The St. Louis County Public Health data case rate continues to trend upward from 37.6, 25.5, and 18.36 from previous weeks.
“We continue to look at all this data as we consider what moves we make in the school district,” Erie said. “Everybody (in the county) is trending up. Our ZIP code accumulative data went up.”
The Ely school community remains at a positive test count of zero. The cumulative number of cases remains at seven.
“We are at much better numbers than other area school districts. Mt-Iron-Buhl had 22 active cases last week and they went to distance learning,” Erie said.
He said that any updates to the school district’s webpage are typically made on Mondays, however, updates will be communicated as soon as possible if positive cases are reported. “We put the information out there as soon as our principals have a chance to notify families,” Erie said. “It will not come before that. We will notify families first in conjunction with notifying our employees.”
The Memorial building, grades 6-12, remains in a hybrid learning model with students divided in two groups, with alternating in-person and distance learning protocols. The Washington building, K-5 students, remains in an in-person learning model. Some fifth- and eighth-graders remained at home recently due to previously-reported positive cases.
The ISD 696 Safe Learning Model “Restart Blueprint” indicates that when the number of positive COVID-19 cases per 10,000 increases to at least 30, all secondary students transition to distance learning and all elementary students transition to hybrid learning models. If the number of cases increases to 50 or more, distance learning for all students is recommended.
Aubrey Hoover, of the St. Louis County Public Health Department, conducted a consultation with ISD 696 administrators last week. A similar-type consultation is scheduled with Minnesota Department of Health officials later this month, Erie said.
“Hoover indicated that because of our transition to the northern county reporting area, our number is higher than it would have been if we remained in the greater county reporting protocol,” Erie said. “We did expect the reporting data to come in at around 40.”
He said the school district continues to strive to keep students in school “if we can do it safely” within the Ely community.
Erie noted that the language in the district’s “Restart Blueprint” will be modified to reflect the data reporting changes.
“Hoover told us that Ely should continue to operate (in the current learning models) through Thanksgiving, barring any outbreaks in the school involving students, staff, or teachers,” Erie said, “Even though our number is above 40 (per 10,000 people), they recommend we stay in our current learning model.”
He added that school learning model recommendations continue to evolve and that the Minnesota Department of Education just released new guidelines.
Megan Anderson, Ely 6-12 Principal, reiterated that numerous changes in recommendations and guidance have recently occurred.
‘There is that frustration out there with all the changes and modifications, but the emphasis is really on looking at all the (community) data and not just the case rates in the schools,” she said.
Erie added that the projected positive county case rate could “rub up” against 50 (per 10,000 people) in the near future.
“We want to be very proactive in making the best choices for our students,” said K-5 Principal Anne Oelke.
“This consultation is really like an interrogation. They go through a list of questions asking what we are doing, how many students we have in the buildings, and they give guidance from that. They are looking at what the cases look like in our school and if we can stay safe in our (building).”
The county health department consultation summary provided to the ESLPAC members indicated “praise to the district that their precautions and mitigation strategies are ‘above and beyond’ what has been asked of us. The Memorial building being in pods-cohorts is amazing and not many schools are doing that.”
Oelke added, “Changing the rules all the time is what is frustrating for everybody,” she said, and noted, “skyrocketing” COVID-19 numbers in Chisholm, Hibbing and Virginia don’t necessarily reflect on reporting data in the Ely, Babbitt, and Tower areas.
The ESLPAC recommendation concluded that Ely students will continue in the current learning model for the foreseeable future with in-person learning in the Washington building and hybrid learning in the Memorial building.
“We are being encouraged to stay the course in what we are doing,” Erie said.”