Update 14: Welcome to the 2020-21 school year
(09/04/2020) The 2020-21 school year starts next week with a welcome/orientation week, Sept. 8-11. Schools have sent communications regarding the activities that will take place from opportunities to meet one-on-one with teachers to technology pick up. Please reach out to your school with any questions or concerns on this.
Please take a few minutes to read through this week’s updates, including:
- Important dates: First week of learning, Sept. 14-18
- Face coverings: process for face shield accommodations or exemptions
- Ventilation systems and exchanged/filtered air
- In-person and to-go meal options
- School bus safety operations
Continue to refer to ahschools.us/ReturnToSchool for the latest information. School supply lists and more are also online.
Anoka-Hennepin is looking forward to seeing you next week. Let’s have a great start to the 2020-21 school year!
Important dates: First week of learning, Sept. 14-18
All students will start their 2020-21 learning journey the week of Sept. 14. Elementary students will start Tuesday, Sept. 15. That week, students in cohort A will be in-person Tuesday and Wednesday, and follow with online learning Thursday and Friday. Cohort B students will start with online learning Tuesday and Wednesday, with their in-person instruction Thursday and Friday.
Middle and high school students will start their instruction Monday, Sept. 14. These students are in the distance learning format for that week and the following week, Sept. 21-25 so they’ll be online all five days.
This an updated visual representation of the 2020-21 hybrid calendar.
Face coverings: process for face shield accommodation or exemption
Anoka-Hennepin’s goal is to safely operate schools, while promoting a culture of health and safety amongst students and staff. The district’s health and safety protocols help to guide this work.
Face coverings is one of the district’s health and safety protocols, which is backed by the state and a School Board policy. As a result, face coverings are required by all who enter district schools or facilities. The coverings can be paper or disposable, cloth, scarf, bandana or religious. Clear plastic shields are also allowed under certain conditions. Temporary removal of coverings to eat or participate in activities are acceptable.
Please complete this form (Spanish) to inform your school/site that your student is insterested in wearing a clear plastic shield instead of a face covering or requests an exemption entirely.
Ventilation systems and exchanged/filtered air
Anoka-Hennepin is committed to having safe air circulate at all schools/sites. For almost 20 years, the district has continued to invest in updating the technology, either ventilation or air filtration systems, in all district facilities. Most of the focus has been to increase the amount of outside air circulated through school sites.
A little background, ventilation systems ensure there is at least 20% outside air in schools/sites at any given time. Filtration systems clean both outside and inside air continuously. They don’t allow any air to bypass the filter and filters are changed three times per year. Air is cleaned at high industry standards with MERV-11 filters and above at all locations.
Every room in each school/site, at a minimum, has its full volume of air exchanged at least seven times per hour. Most rooms exchange the air more frequently.
To ensure all students and employees enter the school buildings with fresh air in place, all air systems are now being purged daily beginning two hours before occupancy as one more step in ensuring clean, exchanged air for all schools/sites. More information on air quality is on the Return to School website. Also, check out the infographic.
In-person and to-go meal options
The child nutrition program is dedicated to providing high quality, nutritious meals to the students in Anoka-Hennepin. Check out the details on in-person meal procedures and to-go options during hybrid learning.
School bus safety operations
The Anoka-Hennepin transportation department is committed to getting students back and forth to school safely. Industry standard sanitation systems, reduced capacities, and safety-oriented boarding and unboarding procedures have a focus on maintaining health and safety on the bus. In the hybrid learning format, students will ride with about 50% of the capacity of the bus/vehicle. Check out details on the safety measures being added, how the various types of buses will operate and route plans.