Month: November 2020

The Minnesota Department of Health has released the latest COVID-19 numbers and the state reported 4,740 confirmed cases out of 64,747 tests for a positive rate of 8 percent.  The state also reported 362 probable cases and a new one day record of 67 deaths.
Roseau County reported 42, Polk County had 25 and 3 deaths (55 to 59-year-old, 75-79 year-old, 85 to 89 years old), Pennington County-10, Mahnomen County-10, Norman County-6 and 1 death (90 to 94 years old), Kittson County-4, Red Lake County-3, Marshall County-2.  All the information is below –

Updated November 18, 2020
Updated daily at 11 a.m., with data current as of 4 p.m. the previous day.

Data is for cases that were tested and returned positive. All data is preliminary and may change as cases are investigated. Many data points are collected during case interviews. Data presented below is for all cases, regardless of interview status. Data for cases pending interview may be listed as “unknown/missing.”

The COVID-19 case definition was recently updated to include antigen testing. Previously, cases were only reported through polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing. Positive PCR test results are considered confirmed cases. Positive antigen test results are considered probable cases. Confirmed and probable cases are reported separately in the following areas:

• Newly reported cases
• Total approximate completed tests
• Total positive cases
• Total cases by county of residence

Death, hospitalization, demographic (age, gender, race), likely exposure, and residence type data combine PCR (confirmed) and antigen (probable) cases for an overall total.

All probable cases get the same public health follow up and recommendations as cases confirmed by PCR tests.

UMC Teambackers honored three individuals with awards for 2020. The Teambacker Faculty/Staff Fan of the Year Award was presented to Lyle Westrom, while the Teambacker Community Fan of the Year was awarded to Dale Knotek. 

The Teambacker of the Year Award was presented to Andrea Weisse. Weisse was elected president of the UMC Teambacker Board of Directors this year and has been on the board for four years. She is active in Teambacker events and initiatives including golf tournaments and the annual UMC Teambackers Fun Nite.

This is the first year of the Faculty/Staff and Community Fan of the Year awards and the 24th year of the Teambacker of the Year award. The individuals were to be recognized at the Teambacker Fun Nite event which was not held this year due to COVID-19.

UMC Teambackers is the fundraising arm and directly supports Golden Eagle Athletics at the University of Minnesota Crookston. The goal of Teambackers is to help build an athletic program that will provide a sense of pride, tradition, and legacy in our community, region, and state.

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Crookston School District Superintendent Jeremy Olson released the following information to the district families as they prepare for distance learning.  The note to Parents/Guardians is below. 

Parents/Guardians, 

I am sure that many of you have questions as to why we are going into a temporary distance learning period. As with most things, there are several reasons:

1. We have a great deal of spread in our community that potentially may be made worse by family gatherings at Thanksgiving. We wanted to put some distance between Thanksgiving and the restarting of in-person instruction. If people are going to become symptomatic after Thanksgiving, we should begin to see signs of this prior to the return to school on December 10th. 

2. We wanted to execute a temporary distance learning period on our timeline so that we could get our parents ready, give you due notice, and implement this period in a planned manner versus a one day noticed shutdown. This provides predictability in a very unpredictable time period. We also wanted our first temporary distance learning period to be planned so that we are better prepared for future distance learning periods should this become necessary on short notice. 

3. This period will allow us to get our staff and students who have been placed in quarantine back and serves as a reset for our school. Staffing becomes very problematic as close contacts must be quarantined at home thus cause severe shortages as we attempt to provide high-quality in-person programming. 

I realize that this temporary distance learning period causes our parents a great deal of hardship. For that I sincerely apologize, this decision was not made lightly as we must consider a variety of factors. I would not have recommended this course of action if I did not believe that this was in the best interest of our students, families, and staff. If you have questions or concerns about what we are doing, please feel free to contact me at 218-770-8717 or email me at jeremyolson@isd593.org. Go Pirates! 

Instruction
Crookston Public Schools will be entering a short term distance learning period from November 23, 2020-December 9, 2020. December 9th will be handled in the same format as the previous 2W day with an asynchronous assignment. In-person instruction will begin on December 10, 2020. During this period, November 23-24 will be reserved for the Teachers to prepare and plan for distance learning. November 25th will be the first day of distance learning instruction.

During this time all students will receive instruction via distance learning. There will be specific times in which students will need to join their classroom electronically as provided by the teacher’s schedule. Device pickup for elementary-age students will be on Tuesday, November 24th at both Washington Elementary School and Highland Elementary School. High School devices have previously been distributed.

School-Age Childcare
School-age childcare will be provided by Crookston Public Schools for parents identified as an essential sector employee under the Governor’s safety plan and those already registered in Crookston’s School Age Care Program. To limit the spread of COVID 19 we are housing this program out of all three buildings and will be grouping by family groups to cut down on potential exposure. If you are a qualifying essential sector employee and wish to sign up for this program please contact your child’s school asap as we need to ensure that our staffing levels are adequate to meet student needs.

Food Service Program
Crookston Public Schools will be providing a free meal service during this temporary distance learning period. We will be providing a grab and go option as well as a delivery option. The delivery option is reserved for individuals within city limits who are not able to access the grab and go option. This program will start on November 23 and will be housed out of Highland Elementary School from 11 am-12:30 pm on regularly scheduled school days during this distance learning period. (See Brochure) Contact: 218-281-5313 ext. 7.

Food Service delivery request form: https://forms.gle/JKXVHyJTQbxJEnBY9

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