Frigid temperatures this weekend prompt cold weather advisories

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

A new survey from the Minnesota Department of Education shows a majority of families had a bad experience with distance learning and want schools to resume in-person classes in the fall. But the results are just a sampling — and hardly scientific.

Over 64 percent of families who took the informal 

said they would feel comfortable sending their children back to in-person classes in the fall. Less than 12 percent of respondents said they would not feel comfortable sending their students back to school, the vast majority of whom cited public health concerns.

The survey release comes as state and national leaders ratchet up the rhetoric and pressure surrounding the decision to reopen schools. 

to withhold federal money from schools if they don’t fully reopen, and he called the guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for reopening schools during the pandemic “impractical” and “expensive.”

Still, the decision to reopen schools is one that rests with local and state leaders. And Minnesota officials have said they may not make a decision until the end of July. 

White House stumbles over how best to reopen schools

When it comes to reopening schools, 'the devil's in the details' 

Minnesota districts to prepare for three different scenarios in the upcoming academic year: full-time in-person learning, full-time distance learning and a hybrid of those two options. 

But Gov. Tim Walz on Tuesday said he was struggling with which scenario to choose, adding he was less confident about a full return to the classroom this fall than he was even three weeks ago.

“To be very honest, the resurgence of COVID, especially in Arizona, Florida, Texas and some of the other states has asked us to go back and continue to gather more information,” Walz said. “I think our goal is to get as many students as we possibly can back into buildings, to do that in a safe manner.”

Minnesota leaders also say they are considering results from the newly released Education Department family school

 as they make decisions about resuming classes in September.

MN state officials to announce K-12 academic year plans by late July

What it might look like

Over half of the 130,000 respondents to the survey said they’d had a bad or very bad experience with distance learning. The most common complaints included students not feeling empowered to work on their own, students experiencing mental health challenges due to the pandemic, and lessons that were hard to understand. 

But the survey is just a sample and not “truly scientific,” state officials acknowledge. The Education Department sent the questionnaire to superintendents and charter school leaders, who then shared it with their school communities. It was offered to K-12 families online from June 15 through July 6. 

The vast majority — over 80 percent — of respondents who identified themselves said they were white. That’s a percentage that’s not representative of Minnesota’s current K-12 population, which is closer to 64 percent white. 

The results, which do not proportionately represent families of color, are only part of the department’s outreach to the public. Department officials say they’re making other efforts to reach out to the public as they’re making plans for the upcoming school year. 

Immigrant families face complex challenges

Minnesota’s first week of distance learning

Minnesota’s statewide teacher union has weighed in on the survey results, as well as on officials’ three scenarios for restarting school in the fall. 

“There is currently no plan for opening schools that doesn’t come with trade-offs between safety, educational effectiveness and sustainability,” Education Minnesota President Denise Specht said in a statement.

“Continued distance learning is the safest option, but it doesn’t meet the educational needs of all students. The most educationally effective plan is in-person learning, but it requires big, unfunded changes in how schools operate and still comes with risk,” Specht added. “The hybrid plans are even more expensive and aren’t sustainable if educators are asked to double their workload with both distance and in-person learning.”

The teacher union president also expressed concern that student and educator health would be “sacrificed to an economy rigged to benefit the richest 1 percent.”

Students with special needs could slip behind

Already on the margins, homeless students hit hard by shuttered schools

State Republican lawmakers have also chimed in the decision to reopen schools. In June, after state education and health officials told schools to prepare for three different scenarios to resume classes, Senate Majority leader Paul Gazelkad, R-East Gull Lake, called the direction “as clear as mud,” and exhorted DFL Gov. Walz to let local school officials make their own decisions. 

“The governor can’t possibly make the best decision for every parent and child,” Gazelka said in an emailed statement in June. “Let the schools and the parents decide what’s best for their students.”

But on Thursday, after the Trump administration called for all classes to resume in person, Gazelka said he wanted to see students back in school buildings. 

“Getting kids back into the classroom this fall is essential. Let our local school leaders decide how best to accomplish this,” Gazelka 

Education News

Shows

All Things Considered

NewsPartners

Health

COVID-19

Elizabeth Shockman

Author

A new survey from the Minnesota Department of Education shows a majority of families had a bad experience with distance learning and want schools to resume in-person classes in the fall. But the results are just a sampling — and hardly scientific.


Unscientific survey shows most MN families want in-person school, despise distance learning

Desks sit distant from each other in a gym. 

Unscientific survey shows most MN families want in-person school, despise distance learning

Go Deeper.

Like this?