WINONA, Minn. – Winona schools will shut down in-class instruction immediately – in all schools – amid the deteriorating public health crisis. All instruction will be online, Superintendent Annette Freiheit said. Administrators were cued to their decision by quantum increases in coronavirus infections – 71 Thursday in Winona County and 7,000 statewide. Also factoring into the decision: More than 200 students and employees were in isolation or quarantine. Too: Six more school people tested positive for the virus the previous week, raising the total since September to 29. The district had been using a mix of online teaching and the traditional and preferred person-to-person teaching. The district began moving away from the hybrid model earlier in the week for the middle school.
Verbatim
Freiheit: “The public health situation deteriorated much faster than we anticipated. As much as we would have liked to give more advance warning, we are concerned that we are exposing our students, staff and their families to infection