On Jan. 11, 2022, the Owatonna Public Schools district announced that they will be requiring all students and staff to wear a mask inside all Owatonna Public Schools buildings during the school day, regardless of vaccination status, for a two-week period of time with the final date being Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2022.  

This mandate was implemented due to the numbers throughout the district reaching over five percent, meaning a concerning amount of spread. Superintendent Jeff Elstad believes the district needed to implement a new strategy before moving to distance learning, which would be masking, hoping to see a decline in the number of positive COVID-19 cases. 

In a letter to ISD 761 families via Infinite Campus, Mr. Elstad said, “In our district, we are continually monitoring the impact of both influenza and COVID-19 on our students and staff. We update our protocols as necessary to keep everyone healthy and safe, with a goal of keeping students learning in person. In the last week, we have seen a rise in the number of influenza-like illness symptoms and COVID-19 cases reported, leading us to implement the next mitigation step. Beginning Wednesday, January 12, we will return to universal masking inside all Owatonna Public Schools buildings during the school day, regardless of vaccination status, for a two-week period of time with the final date of Wednesday, January 26.”

With different guidelines put in place, the district monitors the building in hopes of keeping students and staff safe, this includes watching the data and COVID-19 related symptoms. OHS Principal Mr. Kory Kath said, “The state sets first and foremost is to start being concerned at five percent, for us that’s around 75 students, once we hit 75 students that are COVID-19 positive we need to put something in place.” This is when the district would start to take action. As of Jan 11, the school is closing in around five percent and has hit five percent before. Mr. Kath said, “If it continues to increase and we start to see continued growth of the numbers then we would probably say once we hit that 15 to 20 percent or we have enough staff out where we can’t fully staff and we would have to choose distance learning.” Distance learning would only be for a temporary period of time between one to two weeks to let students and staff heal and get better. As of Jan. 11, 2022, there are 122 staff absent due to illness in the district and 467 staff and students out due to influenza-like and COVID-19-like illness.  

What would need to happen before going to distance learning:

1. An outbreak among staff where the district would not be able to fully staff the building 

2. A lot of spread among student population and body within the school 

Various school districts around Minnesota have moved to distance learning already, including: Farmington High School who will be moving to distance learning from Jan. 12 to Jan. 14, Osseo Public Schools who plan on returning to in-person learning on Jan 24, Richfield Public Schools who will learn remotely until Jan. 14, Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools who plan on distance learning from Jan. 13 to Jan.18 and Fridley High School who started distance learning on Monday, Jan. 10. This is due to COVID-19 related absences and Minnesota’s highest average rolling positivity rate since the start of the pandemic. 

Activities and sporting events will continue, the district is asking for spectators to follow the mask mandate to keep teams competing. This was communicated through an email sent out to families.

More information on the district’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic can be found on their website, along with resources and information.  Also, follow OHS Magnet for updates and changes.