Hopkins Public Schools: Secondary Schools To Pivot To Online Learning Models

Press release from Hopkins Public Schools:

January 13, 2022

Our schools are feeling the impacts and effects of the Omicron surge. Thank you for partnering with us during this uniquely difficult time. As you know, we are watching our staffing data very carefully and are in constant contact with our school leaders to determine if short-term pivots are needed.

For our secondary schools, our inability to staff at appropriate levels coincides with the last few days of first semester - a time when all students need to be critically engaged in successful course completion. With up to one-third of our secondary students quarantined or choosing to stay home during this time, it’s important that our system allows students to access learning in an equitable fashion. For these two reasons, we plan to temporarily shift all three of our secondary schools - North Junior High, West Junior High and Hopkins High School - to an online learning model. For West Junior High, this change will begin on Friday, January 14 and for North Junior High and Hopkins High School this change will begin on January 18. Your school will follow up with more specific instructions tomorrow. All schools expect to resume an in-person model on Monday, January 24, which is also the first day of second semester. All afterschool activities and athletics will continue unless there is a specific notification issued to a particular group.

While we are watching our elementary schools and early childhood/preK programs very closely, we do not plan to transition the learning model for early childhood, preschool, or elementary at this time. Our elementary/preK schools will stay open for as long as we are able to staff at effective levels. Our early childhood and elementary/preK leaders and teachers firmly believe that this is the best way to serve the students and families in their schools. We want to support this commitment to continue delivering in-person learning at these grade levels.

For our secondary families, it’s important to note that this is not a school shutdown. During this very brief time of online learning, teachers and all school staff who are feeling well will continue to report to school. Also, students who would be best served in a school setting can choose to attend school in person to virtually follow their daily course schedule. The benefit of this temporary model is that it gives scholars an opportunity to access their learning in one consistent online setting for the remainder of the semester.

Technology update:

As we are seeing more quarantines in our PreK-6 learning models and are moving to online learning for our 7-12 students, our technology team would like you to know that they are able to assist anyone who may need access to home internet. If you need access support, please contact your school counselor who will provide the needed support. In addition, please see the attached flyer on ways you can access free internet.

Expected changes to our quarantine protocols

The Hopkins COVID-19 mitigation team is awaiting final recommendations from the Minnesota Department of Health on shortening quarantine times from ten days to five days for scholars who are not experiencing symptoms. While we are still waiting for these recommendations, we have allowed our staff the flexibility to return to work if they are feeling well after five days; we have not yet changed our policy for students. We expect to have recommendations from MDH tomorrow and will communicate an updated plan regarding any shortened student quarantine timelines by the end of this week. We apologize for the delay.

Thank you, Hopkins families! We appreciate everything you are doing to partner with us during this time. Our commitment to you is to continue high quality learning with minimal disruptions given our complicated context. Serving your children well is our highest priority! Thank you!

This press release was produced by Hopkins Public Schools. The views expressed here are the author’s own.