Minneapolis Public Schools lays out detailed back-to-school plan

Minneapolis Public Schools will start Sept. 8 with distance learning, and the district has now laid out specific plans on how they will improve distance learning this fall compared to last spring.

MPS Superintendent, Ed Graff, told School Board Directors the plan is to make sure students and staff are safe and to move forward with suggested improvements.

"We do want to make sure we do everything we can to start the school year as the wonderful celebration that it is for many of our students," said Graff.

Some of the improvements to last spring’s distance learning include:

• Weekly teacher assessments of student progress
• Teachers and students will have a defined virtual meeting schedule
• Grades 3-12 will use district-provided Chromebooks
• Hot-spots will be provided to families who need them most
• There will be in-person, multi-lingual technology support for those who need it.

Graff was asked by a school district director if the plan included contingencies for students who might have fallen behind after three months of distance learning last spring and the Superintendent said a determination will be done right away.

Minneapolis, St. Paul school districts to begin upcoming year with distance learning

"The expectation is we will move into some diagnostic assessments," said Graff. "So, really getting a better sense of how they are aligned to the learning that’s being provided by using the adopted curriculum in our schools whether it’s benchmark or math materials."

The district will reassess where COVID conditions are in mid-November with the hope of possibly transitioning from distance learning to a hybrid model which includes a combination of distance and in-school learning.

More information on Minneapolis Public School’s back-to-school plan can be found here.