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FAIRMONT-- On Thursday evening Fairmont Area Schools announced that not only would school be cancelled Friday due to pending weather, but that it would also be closed Monday due to an increase in illness related absences.
Superintendent Andy Traetow called the situation "unique." He shared his reasonings.
"Monday morning when we came to school, our Covid numbers were one at the elementary school and four at the jr/sr high school. At the end of the day yesterday (Thursday) they were 11 and 22 respectively," Traetow said.
He said the highest mark the district had previously seen was back in early October when total Covid numbers were 32.
Traetow shared that the Covid numbers that are reported at the school board meetings on a bi-weekly basis are based on what parents are communicating when they call in a student as absent.
"We know there are a variety of factors that can play into student absences," Traetow said.
Not only have students recently been out with Covid, but other illnesses.
"Between the two buildings, 304 students were not at school yesterday (Thursday) which was about 18 percent," Traetow shared.
He said another point that led to the decision to keep school closed come Monday was the rapid increase of illness they saw throughout the first four days of the school week.
"This is a step we're taking to try to minimize the spread of any illness throughout our school buildings in an effort to avoid long-term closures," Traetow said.
Fairmont Area Schools isn't the only district in the state to make a move like this. Recently Minneapolis Public Schools, Fridley Public Schools and Osseo Area Schools moved to online learning due to a rise in Covid cases affecting both students and staff.
Traetow said at this time they have no plans in place or consideration of returning to a distance learning model.
"Our goal is to keep our schools open, allow for kids to be in our buildings and in the learning environment. We want to keep both our staff and our students in as healthy of an environment as we can provide," Traetow said.
He said on Monday custodial staff will still be in doing a deep clean of both buildings.
The message sent out to parents also gave guidance when it came to activities. It said that all Fairmont Area School extracurricular activities will be allowed to resume starting today for students not exhibiting symptoms of illness.
"When our students are healthy and able to be in school and engage in activities, we know that's best for them," Traetow said.
He said at the same time, if students or staff aren't feeling well, they're expected to stay home until they're feeling better and able to return to school.
The school nurses are working on finalizing details on the most up-to-date guidance from the Minnesota Department of Health and CDC. Traetow said they have weekly state-wide school nurse calls with representatives from the department of health.
"They're continually working through that and staying up-to-date on what that the guidance is," Traetow said.
He encourages anyone with questions or concerns to reach out.
"If our families or community members have specific questions, I'm always happy to engage in those conversations. They can contact the school district office and schedule a time to meet with me," Traetow said.