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May 21, 2021
Updates in this email:
The Minnesota Department of Health has updated the Frequently Asked Questions About Wearing Face Coverings document. Note that the mask requirements apply during the instructional day and while riding on school transportation. The requirements do not apply during after school activities, such as sports or other extracurriculars.
What are the requirements for schools?
Face coverings are generally required for all students, staff, and other people present in any public or private kindergarten through grade 12 school buildings or district offices during the instructional day, or when riding on school transportation vehicles to and from the instructional day. To provide a consistent, safe environment for students and staff, this requirement applies equally to kindergarteners, even those aged 5 or under. MDH and MDE also strongly recommend that all staff wear a face shield over their face coverings.
For more information, including information about exemptions, situations where face shields can be worn as an alternative to a face covering, and situations where it is allowable to temporarily remove a face covering, please refer to Executive Orders from Governor Walz and 2020-2021 Planning Guide for Schools (PDF). Children under 2 years or anyone with a medical, developmental, or behavioral condition that makes it unreasonable to wear a face covering must not wear face coverings.
CDC Guidance Update
Over the weekend, the CDC released guidance for schools following last week's announcement that fully vaccinated people do not need to wear masks. The CDC continues to recommend that school staff and students wear masks in school buildings and on school buses for the remainder of the school year.
This information may be helpful to share with your school communities to address questions from students, staff or families regarding the continued requirement to wear masks in schools through the end of the school year.
The CDC cites the following reasons for continuing to wear masks in schools:
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Students will not be fully vaccinated by the end of the 2020-21 school year. Youth under the age of 12 are not yet eligible for vaccination. Youth between the ages of 12 and 15 became eligible for vaccination on May 12, 2021. Because people are not fully vaccinated until 2 weeks after their second dose of the Pfizer vaccine, students in this age group will not be fully vaccinated before the end of current school year.
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The time needed for schools to make systems and policy adjustments. Systems and policy adjustments may be required for schools to change mask requirements for students and staff while continuing to ensure the safety of unvaccinated populations.
CDC will update its guidance for schools in the coming weeks. Updated guidance can inform school planning for the 2021-2022 academic year.
Fully vaccinated teachers and school staff no longer need to participate in screening COVID-19 testing. If a staff person becomes symptomatic at any point, they should get a COVID-19 test. Staff should also consider testing if they are working in a facility with an outbreak. If a staff person is a close contact of a confirmed case of COVID-19, they may wish to get a test. More information about COVID-19 testing opportunities is available on MDH's website.
On May 18, Governor Walz announced that Minnesota will use flexible federal American Rescue Plan (ARP) dollars for programming to support academic enrichment and mental health services starting in the summer of 2021 for students, families, educators, communities and schools.
These funds are separate from Minnesota's $1.3 billion in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER III) funds under the ARP.
Below is information about how schools will receive these funds.
Academic and mental health supports for schools and districts ($34.614 million) - application opening soon!
These funds will be provided to school districts, charter schools and other public entities through a general allocation in order to create partnerships and provide services in the following areas:
- Expand mental health and well-being supports
- Partner with community organizations to provide mentoring and tutoring programs
- Bring school based programs into the community
- Offer field trip for hands-on activities
Allocations have been posted on the Federal Relief Funds webpage. You may apply for any or all of these program areas.
Please use the following link after 10 a.m. on Monday, May 24, to accept your district’s allocation and apply for the use of funds:
SERVS Financial (mn.gov)
For more information, contact Mary Barrie, mary.barrie@state.mn.us or Sally Reynolds at sally.reynolds@state.mn.us.
Preschool for 4- and 5-Year-Olds ($20 million)
- These funds will be used to provide summer preschool or pre-kindergarten to 4- and 5-year-olds. These funds can be used in a star-rated, public or private, preschool or pre-kindergarten in-person learning program.
- This funds will be allocated using a formula based on child poverty concentration. The formula will determine the amount available for each eligible school district, charter school and Head Start program as well as the amount available in each county for eligible three- or four-star rated child care programs.
- The application process will be streamlined in an online survey which will be sent to eligible programs soon. Dollar amounts for each program will be announced in early June.
Expand Access to Tutoring ($3.25 million)
- Expand access to tutoring is a competitive grant program that will provide grants to experienced community organizations to provide services, including: academic enrichment, mental health supports, and other wrap-around services and enrichment opportunities for K-12 children.
- The posting for the competitive grant is tentatively scheduled to happen by the end of next week (May 28) with a goal of having funding recommendations finalized mid-July.
Increase Adult Basic Education Program Funding ($10 million)
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This investment will strengthen Adult Basic Education (ABE) programming statewide to ensure access to, enhance the quality of, and increase the ABE programming available. This will fund expanded ABE programming beginning this summer and any remaining funds can be used in fiscal year 2022 in order to build and help sustain enhanced programming year-round.
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Additional information about this funding will be provided to school leaders soon.
Two other initiatives in the Governor’s announcements, School-Linked Mental Health grants and the Learning Acceleration and College Readiness, are transfers to other state agencies.
On March 11, 2021, the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act of 2021 was enacted into law which includes $1.3 billion for E-12 education in Minnesota to help schools returning to, and maintaining, safe in-person learning for all students. Per the federal law, 90% of these funds have been allocated to eligible districts and charter schools. Another 9.5% of these funds are for flexible use by each state education agency to create a plan to meet the needs of students. As a result, MDE is asking for feedback and input on how the 9.5% could be used. A form is being used to collect feedback in English, Hmong, Somali and Spanish. Additional information is also available in Hmong, Karen, Somali and Spanish. Feedback in Karen can be emailed to mde.federalcovidfunds@state.mn.us. The public comment period ends on June 1.
Please note, this public comment does not apply to the ARP's State Fiscal Recovery Fund in the section above. Those funds are separate from Minnesota’s $1.3 billion in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER III) funds under the ARP.
GEER/ESSER Round 2 for Summer Programming
In addition to the above referenced funds, there is also GEER/ESSER Round 2 funding available for expanded summer programming.
- This funding can be used to expand number of teachers to provide in-person academic instruction and support so all students have an opportunity during the summer
- Funds also can be used to:
- Reduce class sizes
- Offer longer hours or more days
- Partner with community orgs to offer enrichment
- Provide student transportation
- Purchase personal protective equipment (PPE) for staff
- This funding will be paid out to districts based on the number of students served and the number of summer program hours offered times an estimated $4 per hour.
- In April, schools provided MDE with their preliminary program estimates.
- Yesterday, you should have received a letter that tells you the amount of projected funding you will be receiving based on your preliminary estimates and additional information on how the funds can be used.
- 25% of the projected allocations went out today.
- At the end of the summer, you will be asked to submit final student count and program hour information before final payments will be made.
For those entities that didn’t receive funding under the ESSER 90% allocation, there is an additional $4.5 million available for expanded summer programming. If you are eligible to receive these funds, you will receive information this week. Applications will be available in SERVS starting tomorrow.
School Age Child Care Support Funds (under the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act)
MDE will be releasing applications for Summer School Age Child Care support to all districts on June 14, 2021. Public schools with certified school age child care programs will be eligible to receive funds. We anticipate that similar to the funding that DHS provided, $3,000 per certified site will be allocated-potentially more, if the response is lower and if we can make the funds stretch farther. So as not to confuse with the DHS application for May funds that they will release at the end of the month, MDE’s release will be in mid-June with funds flowing in July, August and September.
ESSER Round 3 – 90% allocation
In addition to the roll out of all the summer funds this week, applications for the ESSER 90% allocations became available in SERVS today.
- Back in April, the allocations for this round of funding was distributed and posted to MDE’s website.
- This funding can be spent until September 30, 2024.
Apply to Pilot Minnesota's New Harvest of the Month (HOTM) Program!
Are you interested in building your school’s Farm to School programming and could you use some help figuring out how to get started? The Minnesota Departments of Agriculture and Education (MDA and MDE) invite school-based teams to apply to pilot the Minnesota Harvest of the Month (HOTM) program next school year. HOTM is a viable strategy to help successfully implement farm to school options in your school(s).
Program Goals:
- Encourage healthy food choices by increasing students’ exposure to and knowledge of seasonal foods and to build excitement about school meals
- Support and increase market development for local farmers
- Provide connections between the cafeteria, classroom and community
Learn more about the benefits of participating and expectations of selected schools.
Apply today! Assemble your team, fill out the online application, and turn in by Friday, June 4, 2021.
Questions? Reach out to Helen Schnoes, MDA Farm to School Lead at Helen.Schnoes@state.mn.us.
Reimagining Mandated Reporting
As a part of the Minnesota Department of Education’s (MDE) ongoing efforts under the Olmstead Plan to prevent abuse and neglect, the Division of Assistance and Compliance is hosting a half-day workshop for school administrators. Miriam Itzkowitz, MSW & Katie Olson, J.D., from the Institute to Transform Child Protection at Mitchell Hamline School of Law, will present on the legal obligations of mandated reporters and what the “reasonable belief” requirement of reporting means in practice. It will provide attendees with practical tools, such as decision-making models, to implement into their daily work with families, and ask reporters to consider consequences beyond the reporting call. Attendees will gain an understanding of the racial complexities associated with reporting and the child welfare system, why they matter, and how to incorporate them into their reporting decisions. Training is provided at no cost to you. Board of School Administrator (BOSA) credits will be available.
Friday, June 18
8:30 a.m.-noon
WebEx: Register for the Friday, June 18 session
For more information about the session, please contact Monica Rasmussen at 651-582-8568.
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