Thread by @uptakemn

Edina School Board is hosting a special meeting starting at 5 pm. Stay tuned for coverage.

Focus of the meeting is on information garnered since August 9th, and also includes information regarding student vaccination levels. Recommendation will include a phased approach and, if approved, a face mask requirement would go into effect tomorrow 8/18.

Zach Horn- "We have included a graphic regarding clustering, around attendance, seating charts, and interviewing of kids in our information packet."

We are enrolling families for online school in K-6, and we are looking at multi-age options for online learning for families who have decided that that is the route they would like to go. It's looking like we will have about 4 online educators. Registration deadline is 8/18.

In order for a student to return to school they must have symptoms improving, not entirely eradicated.
The decision tree chart is more high-level guidance than case by case specific according to MDH, and we will adhere to what is recommended by the MDH (MN Dept. of Health)

We believe that masking gives us the highest probability scenario of being in school day-to-day and staying healthy and safe in this coming school year.

"Our district academic, social, and emotional well-being then we are best to keep our students in the classroom as best as possible. I think we need to quarantine differently this year, following the MDH if all students are masked then they may remain in the classroom unless +"

"This isn't about if you want students masked or not, but is about keeping students in the classroom and in activities. If students are unmasked and exposed then they all must quarantine, if students are masked and one is exposed then they may carry on in the classroom"

Asking for a tangible data recommendation as to when we can remove masks, and when/why masking is beneficial.

Masks are required indoors, and anytime they are not actively practicing or competing for all student athletes.

"We do have protocol set-up for all students to wear masks, or to wear a face shield. We do understand that there are times when there are elementary students cannot wear masks, and we are working through trying to come up with safety protocols for students and teachers"

"If we are going to be masking then I'm glad we have face shields that are linguistic sensitive, and I am really glad we have HEPA filters. We have our next meeting in September, and the plan is to go from one benchmark to the next."

My big concern with masking is, there's a tradeoff in everything there is a tradeoff, masks are a barrier from COVID but masks are also a barrier from seeing our faces and how they portray emotions. There is something dehumanizing about a mask, it strips us of 1/3 of our identity

Symbolically I am concerned about masks acting like a muzzle and they seem to remove some of our humanity

"COVID is real, but it is not all that much worse than the flu. Kids will get it, and we can't go to 0 COVID. COVID is here and it is going to be around. I would like to have optional masks so families and parents can have a choice on it"

Dr. Stanely, I'm wondering if on the dashboard, we would be able to see the count of students with COVID and the count of students and teachers who are quarantined. Do we know the percentage of teachers who are vaxxed?
"We should have that number by next month's meeting"

"There are fluid plans for subsitutes, etc., each school has its own team and the plans are based on the needs of the students and teachers. A key focus of the teams is to avoid disruption as much as possible"

2nd- 8th for Fall MAP tests, except Normandale students because of the language barrier.

Would students be able to eat outside?
"We need to make certain that students are supervised, and anytime we can use outside then we do our best to utilize outdoors"

"I don't want to create a huge hole in this by not consciously utilizing the outdoors and creating a safety net for students who are concerned about lunch time. I don't want to screen three of our windows, and leave our fourth one open."

"If a student is symptomatic we will be able to send rapid test kits home with that student and get results back in 15 minutes. It takes 2 weeks to get test kits to the schools, and no cost to Edina Public Schools"

"We'll go back to saliva testing for teachers, and we will go back to encouraging staff to get tested and staying aware."

"We need to be proactive in an empathetic way to encourage our teachers and staff to get vaccinated"

Matthew Fox: Our responsibility: "EPS takes education seriously, and it is the number 1 public school for college preparedness. More broadly our responsibilities is to provide food, provide education, and we have remained committed to getting our students back to the classroom.

As a board right now we must make decisions based on risk/reward scenarios. We had added HEPA filters to all of our classrooms. There will be COVID in our buildings, it is a statistically sound assertion.

"We have to use all tools at our disposal to protect our students, and there is data that masks work"

Female School Board Member: "Our students and teachers deserve nothing less than having us lookout for their safety and well-being. It is hard learning in COVID, but we have an opportunity to take the lessons we learned from last year. No one wants to ask our students to wear

masks, but the CDC and the MDH have stated that wearing a mask can help protect our students from getting infected. We cannot offer masking as a choice because it takes away others' choices. We know vaccines are key."

I implore our students, teachers, and school board members to seek out reliable information regarding COVID. We should be modeling seeking out factual, reliable information.

Vote to Approve the 2021-2022 Return to School Plan: 5 Ayes, 1 Nay.
Motion to Approve the 2021- 2022 Health and Safety Measure has been moved.
Measure has some semantics that are being discussed among the board members.
Health and Safety Measure document is approved.

The meeting signal has been dropped.