By Teri Knight, News Director
The rate of covid-19 cases for Rice County was 10.50 in 10,000 for 14 days. Based on those numbers, Northfield School District Superintendent Dr. Matt Hillmann explained how classes for the 20/21 school year will begin, “for counties that have an infection rate per 10,000 between 10 and 20 the recommended learning models have elementary students in all in-person and middle and high school students in a hybrid model. So that is what we selected”. PreK through 5th-grade students will return to school in-person five days a week. Both the Middle and High Schools as well as
the ALC will return to school in a hybrid model. Hillmann explains, “roughly half of them will come on Monday and Tuesday in-person and then learn remotely (distance learning) Wednesday through Friday. Another group will work from home, or long distance learning Monday through Wednesday and be on campus on Thursday and Friday”. Wednesdays will be disinfection day. Safety protocols, including masks, social distance, handwashing and staying home if you’re sick will be expected. They’re still finalizing for cohorts for those who will choose an all online format of learning, which the District is call “Portage”. At the elementary level there will be a lot of video conferencing. Hillmann added, “at our Middle school and High school we’re using a self-paced curriculum with a learning coach model. As of last night at 10 o’clock, we had 400 people registered for the all the time online”. Each school district is part of a service cooperative which includes epidemiologists, Public health officials and more. Should there be a change in the numbers, school districts consult with their service cooperative. Hillmann said if numbers change for a week, they won’t be making a hasty switch, however if there’s a spike in cases, this cooperative will take a hard look at the what, when and where of the exact cases and if it’s contained outside the school. Hillmann said their goal is to not change the models frequently. There’s more to his interview is HERE.
As oversight Committee member, Draheim stands behind firing of Leppink
On KYMN yesterday, District 20 Sen. Rich Draheim discussed the firing of Commissioner of Labor and Industry Leppink last week. Draheim serves on the committee that has oversight of that department. He said, “and I truly felt that she had overstepped her bounds quite a bit on the Housing issues, requiring prevailing wage on single family houses which added 30 to 50% to the cost of a house, let alone these non-profits that use the government money to build these single family homes can’t find contractors to do it. It’s hard enough to find a contractor to build a house to begin with, let alone to use the prevailing wage that she started to enforce”. Under her leadership, Draheim said they had to pass a bill to allow 16 and 17 year olds to mow lawns, another overstep he said. She limited other work options for that age group. He added, “so we let her go and I stand behind the decision wholeheartedly and I feel I’m probably as knowledgeable if not more knowledgeable than anybody else in the Senate on that committee”. There’s much more to his interview HERE including yet another Special Session.
Nfld Council to vote on CARES dollars, budget work session includes levy talk
The Northfield Council will discuss how to allocate the over $1.5 million the City received in federal funding through the CARES Act. Monies have to be spent on particular needs. Right now the focus is on food security and technology for HCI. This is a work session but they will vote on getting immediate funds to the CAC and HCI. The rest of the meeting will be a budget work session which includes the suggestion that a property tax levy is necessary to balance the budget. Meetings and work sessions are streamed live on the City’s website and begin at 6pm.
