More Minn. school districts discuss school starts, what learning model to use

Tiffany Dittrich was planning for a host of educators at the White Bear Lake School Board work session Monday night.

The district has already voted to start the year in a hybrid learning model, but Dittrich has concerns.

"We need to invest in additional time to ensure that our students and our staff, and really our entire communities, remain safe as we head back to school," she said.

Dittrich says of the 100 plus questions asked of district leadership earlier this month, few have been adequately answered or answered at all. That is why she is hopeful the board votes to pivot to distance learning.

"Our district leadership and our teachers have been engaged in this throughout the entire summer, we are not here right now for lack of effort, this is just a really complex situation," she added.

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Teachers, staff and families gathered at the Anoka Hennepin school board meeting Monday night as well.

Dozens of people lined the sidewalk outside the Sandberg Education Center, where the board meeting was going on inside.
Educators say they have not heard a consistent message from the district about safety, equity and transparency.

"We staggered start times, spaced out classrooms, every class has hand sanitizers, and teachers will have more time, academic time to clean, because they stated that is important," Superintendent David Law said. "So we’re going to be flexible."

Seventy-five percent of Anoka Hennepin families want students back in school in a hybrid model, according to the district which has worked hard on a calendar

"I feel like we’re taking a cautious approach using the data and the models, and giving people a lot of time to get their head around this," Law said.

The district is planning to start in a hybrid model, using the first full week of classes as an orientation week.

The first day of class will be Sept.15 for elementary students. Secondary students will start school with a distance model for the first two weeks, transitioning into a hybrid model on Sept. 28.

Last week, Bloomington and Roseville schools pivoted from hybrid models to distance learning to start the school year.