Austin Schools plan for the opening of Sumner Elementary during COVID-19 pandemic

David Krenz, Superintendent of the Austin School District and the Austin School Board discussed the opening of Sumner Elementary at the board’s last regularly scheduled meeting.  Sumner, which is on the 45/15 schedule, will be the first school in Austin to fully be back in session during the COVID-19 pandemic and Superintendent Krenz told KAUS News that the school’s opening on July 28th will take place under summer school guidelines from the Minnesota Department of Education…

Krenz went on to state that families will have the choice of sending their children to school for face-to-face instruction, or to be instructed via distance learning, and he went on to talk about how the district plans to provide distance learning and face-to-face instruction in an equitable manner…

Krenz stated that the plan in place was based in part on a survey sent out to families in the district that reflected that 70 percent of parents would send their kids back to school….

The Minnesota Department of Education is considering three different plans concerning students returning to school this fall, including all students returning to school buildings following CDC and Minnesota Department of Health guidelines, no students returning and implementing a distance learning model, or a hybrid model of in-person and distance learning, following CDC and MDH guidelines.  The MDE has said that they will release which model they will be implementing sometime during the week of July 27th.