Sartell School District Outlines Return to School Plans

SARTELL -- The Sartell-St. Stephen School District is planning to bring students back into the classroom next month.

Starting January 11th, students in PreK-5th grade will return to in-person learning, while 6-12th grade students will operate in a hybrid model.

Superintendent Jeff Schwiebert says it's always been his goal to get students back in school.

In addition, the school district is also planning a tentative return for in-person learning for 6th-12th grade students on January 26th. However, Schwiebert says at this time the return to in-person learning for middle and high school students has not be confirmed.

A final decision will be made by January 14th based on the positivity rate of the virus and recommendations by state and local health officials.

Schwiebert continues to ask parents to continue to do their part to assist in getting back to in-person instruction by following social distance protocols, wearing a mask and reporting any positive cases of COVID to your building's school nurse, even during distance learning.

For more information on Sartell-St. Stephen's safe learning plan you're asked to visit their website.

Last week, Governor Tim Walz announced starting January 18th, every elementary school across the state may choose to return to in-person learning as long as they follow mitigation strategies such as masking and regular testing.

The St. Cloud area school district announced students in PreK-5th grade will return to a hybrid learning model starting January 19th, while the Sauk Rapids-Rice school district has not made a learning decision past January 8th.