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About 25 percent of students in the St. Paul Public Schools are learning virtually right now amid the federal immigration surge in the Twin Cities, the district superintendent told MPR News. 

“This is truly about safety for our students,” Stacie Stanley told MPR News. The school system, she added, will regularly assess the need to continue the virtual option during the surge and won’t put an end date to it. More than 7,000 kids are in virtual learning right now.

The district this week also told families that for the academic quarter ending this week, students will not receive a grade lower than what they had as of mid-December. Stanley said the district made the change because of persistently high absenteeism in some schools during the surge.

“We want to make certain that students get credit for the work that they had done and are not penalized for external circumstances that may have impacted them due to a lack of safety and coming to school,” said Stanley. 

Federal agents have not entered any St. Paul schools, she said. When ICE agents are near a school, the building goes into “secure” mode, which means students are not allowed outside.

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“This is truly about safety for our students,” Stacie Stanley told MPR News. The school system, she added, will regularly assess the need to continue the virtual option during the surge and won’t put an end date to it. More than 7,000 kids are in virtual learning right now.


Due to high rates of absences, middle and high school students will not receive a lower grade for the quarter than what was in their grade book as of mid-December. 

St. Paul schools leader: 1 in 4 students in virtual learning amid ICE surge; district tweaks grading

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