Minneapolis, St. Paul school districts plan e-learning, snow days due to winter storm
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The public school districts in Minneapolis and St. Paul have announced their plans to shift out of the classroom for the rest of this week due to the impending winter storm.
St. Paul Public Schools says it will have e-learning days on Wednesday and Thursday and a snow day on Friday due to the weather. Minneapolis Public Schools will have e-learning days the rest of the week.
The storm is expected to drop between 14 and 24 inches of snow on the Twin Cities from Tuesday afternoon through Thursday evening, with strong winds likely to create blizzard conditions at times, Minnesota’s Weather Authority says.
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Additionally, SPPS says its Discovery Club child care will be closed and Community Education classes are being canceled, as are all middle and high school athletics and all after-school activities on Wednesday and Thursday.
Empty desks in a classroom. (FILE/KSTP)
The district says it will make case-by-case decisions on Friday’s varsity athletics events.
All MPS-sponsored and/or school-sponsored programs will also be closed, including:
- Minneapolis Kids
- MPS Community Education classes
- Adult education classes
- Early childhood programs
- Athletics
- All other activities and events
- School board meetings scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 21, have been canceled and will be rescheduled.
In announcing its plan, St. Paul Public Schools noted state law allows each district to use up to five e-learning days per year due to weather. After this week, SPPS will have one left.
St. Paul Public Schools has also built five “extra” days into its 2022-23 school calendar, which is why officials decided to use one and call a snow day on Friday. More information can be found on the district’s website.
Minneapolis Public Schools says its students will get details from their school and/or teacher about e-learning activities, school start times and teacher availability. The district added that although it is experiencing technical difficulties with some systems, technology that supports e-learning is still accessible, including Google Meet, Google Classroom, SeeSaw, Clever, Teams and Outlook. More information is available online.
The state’s largest school district, Anoka-Hennepin, says it will be closed Wednesday and Thursday, with all after-school and evening activities canceled. The district plans to have classes resume on Friday. More information on Anoka-Hennepin is available online.
To see KSTP’s full list of school closures, click here.
Stay up to date with the latest radar and forecasts throughout the storm on air and online with 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS.