Month: September 2020

Sacred Heart School in East Grand Forks is delaying the start of school until Thursday, September 10, due to COVID-19 among the staff. 

According to Principal Blake Karas, one staff member tested positive for COVID-19, but several other staff were in close contact during teacher workshops and must quarantine through September 9. “Unfortunately, we do have to delay the start of school,” said Karas. “We had a staff member test positive for COVID-19, which then through the tracing through Polk County Public Health and Grand Forks Public Health indicated several of our teachers through workshops and different occasions were identified as close contacts. Close contact is defined as being within six feet for 15 minutes or greater. So, we had to have eight other staff members quarantined for a said period of time. We have most of those people returning on Thursday for the start of school. We are still going to start school with three staff members that are teaching from home, but we’ll be able to make due. When we have nine staff members out, it’s hard to start. We find it very important for younger grades and all kids to have their homeroom teacher there on the first day of school.”

Karas said the first two days would be treated like snow days with the possibility of being made up via distance learning during future snow days this winter. “In-person education has been our plan since mid-June,” said Karas. “The plans changed, although the format hasn’t. We’ve found that in-person is the format that is best for getting the most potential out of our students. We want to do that as long as possible, and we decided to take these two days off the calendar for our students. With the possibility of adding them back on when we have our snow days when we typically close school now with our newfound technology and staff development last spring and early this year, we are able to deliver content and curriculum even on snow days. We’ll treat these first two days as if they are snow days where we’re not having any type of educational experience for our students, and we’ll start the school year on Thursday, September 10.

Happy Joe’s Pizza and Ice Cream has been closed the last week after a staff member tested positive for COVID-19 and several other staff needed to quarantine for being in close contact. They will be reopening beginning Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.

Manager Brooke Panzer said all the staff who were in close contact with the positive case tested negative and are completing their required quarantine periods Friday. “All of our staff that had to be test came back negative,” said Panzer. “They are finishing out their quarantine through today and then we’ll be able to open for regular business hours starting tomorrow at 11 a.m. We’ll be open until 10 p.m. for pickup and delivery.”

Panzer said they didn’t want to have to close but it was probably the right thing to do with COVID-19. “We just want to thank the community for sticking with us,” said Panzer. “We didn’t want to have to close but we knew it was probably the right thing to do with everything going on right now.”

Rep. Deb Kiel of Crookston, and more than 50 other Republican lawmakers sent a letter to Gov. Tim Walz Monday in response to a letter sent last week by the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) and Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) informing hospitality industry leaders of stepped-up compliance checks that could result in fines, forced closure loss of liquor license, workplace investigations, and more. Previously Gov. Walz has stated that enforcement of state mandates and regulations were to be “educational” in nature rather than punitive.

“Our local restaurants have been working incredibly hard to respond to the current public health and economic conditions,” said Kiel. “That work should be celebrated, not punished. These harsh penalties do not match the low number of cases that have been traced back to restaurants, and are out of step with the aims that the Governor stated as the reason for these regulations. In this challenging time, state agencies should be helping our local businesses operate more safely instead of making it more difficult to keep a business afloat.”

According to estimates from Hospitality Minnesota, just 2.3% of total state cases have been traced back to restaurants and bars, and there have been just over two dozen restaurants specifically identified as sources of outbreaks.

The letter urges Gov. Walz to “reassess the tone and approach your agencies are taking” with restaurants and bars, and urges state agencies to be partners rather than adversaries in efforts to combat COVID-19. A copy of the letter can be found here.

The Northwest Minnesota Arts Council will offer several grants again in 2020.  Deadlines for the different grants range from October 1 through November 15.

Individual Artist Grants of $5,000 have an October 1 deadline and grants of $1,500 have a November 15 deadline! Arts Project grants of up to $3,000.00, Arts Equipment for Schools Grants for $3,000, and Arts Legacy Grants for up to $10,000 have a November 1 deadline! 

Grant money is available from the Northwest Minnesota Arts Council. Grants are awarded to nonprofit arts organizations, communities, schools, individuals, and other nonprofit organizations. Applications are being accepted from the seven-county Minnesota service area including Kittson, Marshall, Norman, Pennington, Polk, Red Lake, and Roseau counties.

Individual adult artists can apply for an Individual Artist Grant of up to $5,000. The deadline to apply this year is October 1. There is also a November 15 deadline for individual artist grants up to $1,500.

The Arts Legacy Grants are the main category for funding artistic activity within the seven-county service region. Funding for the grants comes from the Minnesota State Legislature through the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund of the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment. These grants are a maximum of $10,000 with a required cash match.    

Arts Project Grants are used primarily for small budget arts projects and the sponsorship of performances of touring companies and artists. These grants are a maximum of $3,000.00 with a required cash match. These grants have substantially fewer reporting requirements than Legacy grants.

Applications funded through these two very important grant opportunities include public art, festivals, community theatre projects, folk music entertainment, sponsorship of visual demonstrations, creative writing workshops, and many other activities that improve the quality of life of people in our communities.  

Arts Equipment for Schools Grants is considered a special category of the Arts Project Grant Program. This grant allows schools to purchase artistic equipment for their art room, theater, band room, etc.  Equipment that is used solely for the pursuit of arts like a kiln or theater lights, or a band instrument has a better chance of being funded. There is one annual deadline for this grant on November 1. Grants of up to $3,000.00 include a 25% cash match requirement.

Schools in the seven-county region can also apply now for an Artist Residency grant of $2,100 plus an additional $400 if the residency needs supplies. The teaching artist roster online is a great resource to view artists available to teach in our area.  Go to www.NorthwestMinnesotaArtsCouncil.org website and click Teaching Artist Roster on the left navigation bar. Another resource to view artists available to enhance the curriculum is COMPAS.        

Also available on a first come-first served basis are Quick Turn Around Grants for $500. The NWMAC is currently awarding Quick Turn Around grants for COVID-19-related relief for artists in northwest Minnesota. These grants are for missed gigs and income due to the pandemic. Use the Quick Turn Around application in the Individual Artist grants.  Who is eligible? Performing artists, writers, media artists, fine craft artists, and visual artists can apply if they are a permanent resident of the seven-county service area of Northwest Minnesota.

The Art Council is offering grant writing workshops online to assist you with your application. You are also welcome to visit the office in Warren to work on your grants in the Arts Council’s new setting, as there are social distance protocols in place. RSVPs are required for grant writing sessions to receive a link and/or talk about protocols for visiting the office in person email director@nwartscouncil.org. 

Thurs, Sept 17          Grant writing for individuals at 3:30 pm
Tues, Sept 29           Grant writing for anyone at 3:30 pm
Wed, Oct 14             Grant writing for schools at 3:30 pm and organizations at 5:00 pm
Wed, Oct 28             Grant writing for individuals at 3:30 pm and organizations at 5:00 pm

To learn more about these grant programs and start an application visit www.NorthwestMinnesotaArtsCouncil.org. The grant application process is completely online and NWMAC’s Executive Director Mara Hanel can help walk you through the process of using the grants portal to get accustomed to it. For more information, email director@nwartscouncil.org or call 218-745-8886.