WINONA, Minn. – Students at Cotter High School will take most of their online this fall to guard against the spread of COVID-19, the Catholic school system announced. An exception will be Wednesdays, when students will be on-campus in small groups. There will be activities on afternoons the rest of the week, a few required but mostly optional. These activities include science labs, college prep classes, and small-group tutoring. The Cotter governing board acknowledged in an online statement that its decision was controversial but was based on COVID guidelines established by Governor Tim Walz. To have stayed with traditional scheduling and move students between six to seven classes each day would have been impossible for the small groups needed for social distancing., the board said. For younger students:
> Fifth-graders and sixth-graders will be in small in-school cohorts every day.
> Seventh-graders and eighth-graders, also in small cohorts, will be in buildings Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays but on Wednesdays will be online.
Earlier: Plan: Kids in classrooms two days a week