×

Martin County high schools switching to hybrid learning

FAIRMONT — All public high schools in Martin County will switch to hybrid learning Monday.

Elementary schools will remain with in-person learning.

The news comes just as the new school year was getting underway.

On Thursday, administrators from four school districts — Fairmont Area, Truman, Martin County West and Granada-Huntley-East Chain — were on a weekly Zoom call with local public health officials, who recommended the switch to a hybrid model. All four districts agreed.

“The numbers have increased significantly,” said Fairmont Area Schools Superintendent Joe Brown.

There are currently 21 active COVID-19 cases in Martin County.

“The expectation is that this is going to last for a few weeks, at least. I’m really disappointed with the adults that don’t follow basic guidelines,” Brown said.

For Fairmont Area, a hybrid model means half of the students in grades 7-12 will be in the school building for class Monday and Tuesday and the other half will learn from home. On Wednesday, everyone will do distance learning. On Thursday and Friday, the other half of the students will be in school, with the first half doing distance learning.

During the summer, districts across the state were all asked to come up with plans for three potential learning models: in-person, hybrid and distance.

“They’re prepared to do this,” Brown said.

Chera Sevcik, executive director of Human Services of Faribault and Martin Counties, said her agency has weekly calls and ongoing conversations with schools in the two counties.

“We receive notifications of all COVID cases and our staff is responsible for doing case investigations and contact tracing,” she said.

Staff is also responsible for assisting with testing in either congregate care settings or school settings. They also look at data and identify trends and issues in the area. The school is given findings each week, which inform decisions about moving into hybrid or distance learning.

“We provide guidance to them. When the case rates come out each week, it’s just a number and it’s often reflective of a couple weeks before the date it was released. Because we have first-hand knowledge of what is happening in the community currently, we can provide some insight to the schools,” Sevcik said.

Sevcik said they are currently seeing a lot of community spread and identifying cases involving large gatherings, including weddings and funerals, something Sevcik says is concerning.

Guidance data released weekly by the Minnesota Department of Health shows six Minnesota counties now have COVID-19 case rates high enough for the state to recommend full distance learning. Two of the counties are nearby: Waseca and Blue Earth.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.65/week.

Subscribe Today