Grygla School update

Written by Jamie Lunsetter, Grygla School Superintendent/Athletic Direc tor

We are eagerly awaiting our students to return through our school doors this fall! I wanted to send out a quick update on the progress we’re making within our planning committee for returning to school in the fall.

First, we are working on a plan that allows us to come back to school face to face, allowing for family choices to have their children attend via distance learning. We support all of our families in the tough choices that they need to make in this situation. Second, I want to encourage you that if you have questions or concerns, please reach out. We are here to help. Finally, I’d like to share some details of the return to school plan, even though it is still a work in progress.

Here are some of the key elements that we’re discussing:

Face Coverings

We know this is and will continue to be a big topic in our return to school. Here is what we know right now. The Governor’s mandate says all students and staff need to have face coverings when inside the building. Staff and grades K-8 have the option to wear face shields. Grades 9-12 need to be in a mask at this point. We will have face shields available for all K-8 students and staff. The State is providing one cloth mask for each student and 3 disposable masks. We recognize that there are a wide variety of opinions on masking, and we respect those opinions, but we also know that our #1 goal is to get our kids back to school. This is one of the guidelines that needs to be followed to ensure that happens, and hopefully allows all of us to return to normalcy. Again, this is a mandate from the Governor and we do not have flexibility on this at this point.

Mental Health 

We will again have Alissa Hruby in the building three days a week, and Jared Kainz will be here a minimum of 2 days a week. We are working on finding additional resources to help with the mental health needs of our students and staff that have been a byproduct of COVID-19.

Breakfast and Lunch

Once a student comes to school we will have them go directly to their classrooms (6-12 students will report to their 1st hour class after a quick stop by their lockers) Our lunch periods will look slightly different this year. Our P-2 students will have lunch from 11:00-11:20. Pre-school will have their lunch delivered to their classroom, where they will eat. K-2 will have a socially distanced lunch in the commons area. 11:20-11:30 will be used for sanitizing the lunch room. 3-5 grade students will have a socially distanced lunch in the commons area from 11:30-11:50. The cafeteria will be cleaned from 11:50-12:07. Grades 6-12 will eat from 12:07-12:34, with 6-8 in the commons area, 9-11 in the small gym and Seniors in the FACS room. All students who will be distance learning can have meals made for them, available for pickup at their normal lunch time.

Transportation

Because we are returning full face to face in the fall, we will run our normal bus routes. Parents will be given an “opt out” form to return to the school if you choose to drive your child to school. Masks are also required on the school bus. Bus routes will be sent out next week.

Hygiene

This will be a part of our K-12 curriculum. We will discuss illness prevention and techniques (hand washing, keeping hands out of your face, etc.), as well as other topics.

Wellness Checks

We are asking for each parents’ help in this area. We would ask that each parent check your student each day before coming to school. There will be additional information to come on this, but we wanted to let you know that we will need your help with this.

We will have a guideline/checklist for symptoms to look for.

What if there’s a confirmed case in our school? These guidelines are constantly changing, and are expected to, up to, and throughout school. We will continue to work with the Minnesota Department of Health, as well as county/local resources to ensure that we are following the most current guidelines.

We sincerely appreciate all of your patience during this time. As I stated earlier, our #1 goal is to get our kids back to school, face to face with our staff and other students. We are working on the details of our learning plan as we speak, and will have one more meeting with our planning committee, before putting together the final plan. I am hopeful that this can happen near the end of next week, as we know it’s important to get the information out to you. We’ve worked hard since the Governor’s school announcement to come up with a plan that 1) allows our kids back to school face to face 2) keeps our students, staff and community safe 3) is not overly cumbersome, and provides a familiar learning environment for our students, and 4) helps all of us return to a sense of normalcy.

This week, we will be sending out our 2020-21 bus routes. We will also be working on our open house schedule, as we have several items we’d like to share with you, including our new school website, which can still be found at http://www.grygla.k12.mn.us (It is not up yet, but will be soon.) Family packets will be sent out this week, too, so keep an eye open for them.