August 26, 2021 at 7:00 PM - Board Meeting

Description:  This will be an overview of the GCED Strategic Plan that was developed in July.  We will describe how this strategic plan differs from ones in the past. If you went out to employees with surveys, make sure they understand how they participated in the creation of the plan. Making connection points with employees will help find a mental place for them to store the information you are sharing. We will take the time to describe how and why this strategic plan differs from our last one. We will also describe ways we will be making connection points with stakeholders in our districts to keep them engaged with the work.

Description:  Board will consider enrollment from students residing in districts outside of GCED membership.

Description:  Annually a School Board must approve a plan to use restrictive procedures in school.  Attached is the 2021-2022 Goodhue County Education District Restrictive Procedures Plan.

Description:  The Goodhue County Education District Safe Learning Plan and COVID-19 Guidance for 2021-22 is attached.

Students benefit from in-person learning, and safely returning to school in fall 2021 is a priority. GCED will use MDH’s Best Practice Recommendations for COVID-19 Prevention in Schools for the 2021-22 School Year and CDC’s Schools and Child Care Programs: Plan, Prepare, and Respond as the guiding resources during the 2021-2022 school year. We will also closely monitor community case rates of COVID-19 and community vaccination rates in our safe learning plan decisions. Although the recommendations specify K-12 guidance, because GCED services extend from birth through age 21, we will extend these recommendations to include all services offered birth to age 21.

During August, Minnesota Superintendents and School Boards received letters from the Mayo Health System, the Minnesota Medical Association (MMA), the Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians (MAFP), and the Minnesota Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (MNAAP), strongly urge school districts to require masks for all students, teachers, staff, and visitors to their K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination status. This recommendation is in accordance with recent guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) in response to the widely circulating and highly contagious Delta variant of COVID-19.  Those letters are attached for reference as well.

The Board will review three options for masking during the 2021-22 school year:

Option A: a mask requirement for all students ages 2 and up, staff and visitors regardless of vaccination status, daily cleaning and disinfecting of buildings, improved ventilation systems and maintenance, frequent handwashing, assigned seating and cohorting of students, contact tracing, exclusion of sick students and staff from school, and promotion of COVID-19 vaccination and testing.

Option B: a mask recommendation for all students ages 2 and up, staff and visitors regardless of vaccination status, daily cleaning and disinfecting of buildings, improved ventilation systems and maintenance, frequent handwashing, assigned seating and cohorting of students, contact tracing, exclusion of sick students and staff from school, and promotion of COVID-19 vaccination and testing.

Option C: a mask requirement for students ages 2 to 12, staff and visitors regardless of vaccination status, daily cleaning and disinfecting of buildings, improved ventilation systems and maintenance, frequent handwashing, assigned seating and cohorting of students, contact tracing, exclusion of sick students and staff from school, and promotion of COVID-19 vaccination and testing.