(6/2/2021)
Tens of millions of dollars in federal pandemic recovery funds will start flowing to local governments this month, though most are just beginning to discuss how to use it. Separately, some local businesses and nonprofits were able to take advantage of grants for shuttered venues and new rounds of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, while federal relief money for restaurants dried up in less than a month.
Counties, cities, schools, and even townships are getting windfalls from the most recent relief package, the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), with $9.8 million for Winona County, $5.7 million for Trempealeau County, $3.7 million for Winona Area Public Schools, and $3 million for the city of Winona. For municipalities, payments will come in two halves, one this month and another within a year.
Some local schools fully reopen (3/3/2021)
School is back for the spring. For the first time since the pandemic began, some local middle and high school students are or will soon be back at school full-time. “You could tell people were excited to be back,” St. Charles School District Superintendent Jeff Apse said about his district’s recent full reopening for seventh through 12th graders. “But it also carries with it that newness you have on the first day of school, that traditional first day of school in September.”
The shifts come in response to updated guidance that Minnesota released earlier this month encouraging middle and high schools to implement hybrid or in-person learning as long as they can put certain COVID-19 protocols in place. The St. Charles School District has begun in-person learning for secondary students, and Lewiston-Altura School District plans to do so later this month. Winona Area Public Schools (WAPS)
(2/24/2021)
Leaders at Winona Area Public Schools (WAPS) and the Lewiston-Altura School District are still considering whether, how, and when to potentially switch secondary students to in-person learning five days a week, after Minnesota updated its guidance for middle and high schools.
Minnesota’s updated guidance allows for hybrid or in-person learning when districts can put particular COVID-19 protocols in place. For local schools that are already implementing hybrid learning for middle and high school students, the updated guidance did not signal an immediate shift to in-person learning five days a week.
WAPS leaders are currently discussing the plan they could follow if they decide to shift to in-person learning, WAPS Superintendent Annette Freiheit said. The plan is similar to plans WAPS announced before the state guidance change, with the exception of a potential shift to in-person learning. Under the plan, if WAPS were to decide to make the change,
Jefferson Elementary School students exit a bus and head toward their classrooms for a full day of in-person learning. On Monday, kindergarteners, first graders and fifth graders at Winona Area Public Schools returned to class for in-person learning five days a week for the first time since last March. Some students return to in-person learning (1/13/2021)
Josie Deiss’ daughter, who is in fifth grade at Winona Area Public Schools (WAPS), was so “over the moon ecstatic” about returning to school for full-time, in-person learning that she talked about it for days and discussed what to wear on the first day back with her friends over the phone.
Follow COVID guidelines, school leaders urge (12/30/2020)
Area school leaders are urging community members to follow COVID-19 guidelines over the holidays to help ensure enough staff members are healthy and able to work in-person as the new year begins.
With the most recent state guidance allowing elementary schools to return to hybrid or in-person learning on January 18 as long as they can put certain COVID precautions in place regardless of the county case rate districts still need a sufficient number of staff members to be out of quarantine or isolation to keep schools operating in person.
Districts also still have to consider the county case rate when deciding which learning model to have in place at the middle and high school levels, meaning a county case rate must be below 30 to implement hybrid learning for middle and high school students. As the most up-to-date unofficial 14-day case rate stands at 38, Winona County has not yet reache