Minneapolis Public Schools closes buildings, moves to e-learning day for Monday
Minneapolis Public Schools is closing its buildings and shifting to an e-learning day on Monday, due to the bitter cold forecast and concerns about COVID-19 affecting bus transportation.
“Temperatures for Monday are projected to be colder than they were last Thursday and Friday,” MPS Superintendent Ed Graff said in a news release Sunday. “We were able to make it work last week. But with the increased limitations on our transportation department as a result of COVID-19 infections reported over the weekend, moving forward we decided that bus transportation (Monday) just poses too great a safety risk to our students.”
Students were to receive further instructions from their school or teacher about the distance learning day.
The move also means Minneapolis Kids sites will be closed on Monday, and all Minneapolis Community Education evening classes, athletic and school-sponsored activities are canceled.
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The district directed families concerned about the availability of meals on Monday to this list of resources.
Elsewhere around the state, some schools have canceled classes or moved to distance learning for a longer period of time this month due to a spike in COVID cases.
Fridley Public Schools announced Friday night that it's moving to online learning starting Monday "due to a considerable increase in COVID cases that is affecting our ability to adequately staff our schools and provide consistent bus transportation."
As of Sunday night, St. Paul Public Schools and Anoka-Hennepin schools were planning to have in-person classes as usual on Monday.