Pierz Schools Staying the Course -- For Now

As Morrison County numbers continue to rise, some districts in our county are implementing changes to their learning models.

Pierz Schools will continue to watch the Pierz and Hillman zip codes along with the number of positive cases for students and families in our school. For now, the data for our district zip codes is holding steady as it has the past 3 weeks for our specific area. We thank our community and families for that, and are grateful for the families who can provide transportation to your students each day; our efforts to reduce capacity on the busses will also reduce contact tracing and slow the spread. Now more than ever, we continue to ask you to be careful, stay away from at-risk events, and reduce your risk of exposure. Now more than ever, if your child has symptoms, keep them home. 

All of us have the goal of implementing “in-person” learning as long as possible, assuming we can adequately staff it and provide stability for families.  That is one of the reasons why we went hybrid for 7-12; this model increases social distancing which cuts down on contact tracing-- eliminating the abrupt removal of so many students when there is a positive case or possible exposure. 
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It is also worth noting: the MDH guidelines for learning models based on 14-day case rates are not mandated, but instead one of the data points all districts should consider, in addition to other school and community information.  As with all data during this unprecedented time, we have pivoted as we know more about how the virus is spread; we, along with all MN counties, are looking more closely at case rates by zip codes and buildings. 
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At this point, we hope we can stay the course with what we are doing right now.  Each moment, we collectively do our best, and we do what seems to be the smartest decision at the time.

To view the process of how the data is used to determine if we move from one model to another, click here