K-12 students, SPPS employees and visitors are required to wear a face covering unless medically exempt. Face coverings are required in all SPPS school buildings, district offices and while riding on school transportation vehicles. Pre-K students are strongly encouraged to wear face coverings if they can do so in compliance with CDC guidance on How to Wear Cloth Face Covering.

Students, staff and visitors are expected to provide their own face coverings whenever possible. However, masks will be available for anyone who needs them.

Elementary: In line with the Minnesota Safe Learning Plan, SPPS will work to provide 3 feet or more of spacing between students whenever possible. Schools will limit mixing of students as much as possible throughout the day to minimize risk and reduce exposure. It’s important to know that certain circumstances may require closer contact between students and staff (i.e. tying shoes, offering emotional support).

Secondary: Students must maintain 6 feet of physical distance from one another throughout the school day whenever feasible; when 6 feet is not possible, a minimum of 3 feet of physical distance between students must be maintained.

Improved ventilation, daily building sanitation, and safety reminders posted throughout schools are some of the many steps being taken to ensure a safe return to school.

Additional information about our facilities plan can be found here: spps.org/Page/40753

Student Health and Wellness, Environmental Services Group (ESG), Security and Emergency Management, and custodial staff are working closely together to ensure the safety of our students and staff. Saint Paul Public Schools follows a four-tiered cleaning plan to reports of COVID-19 related symptoms and/or diagnosis. 

Our custodial staff will significantly increase the wiping down and disinfecting of public spaces and high-touch surfaces across our buildings and throughout the school day. We will also provide greater access to cleaning materials for our teachers and staff so that they can clean and disinfect spaces, as needed.

Each evening, our custodial team will conduct a thorough cleaning of our spaces, again disinfecting high-touch surfaces like sinks, drinking fountains, door handles, tables and desks.

Students must be dropped off outside school entrances. Students cannot be escorted by family members to their classrooms or anywhere else inside the building. In addition, families will not be allowed to have lunch, observe a class, volunteer, or engage in any other activities in school buildings.

Students will have assigned seats on buses to ensure spacing and assist with contact tracing.

Masks
Bus drivers and K-12 students are required to wear masks on the bus. Bus drivers have student masks available if needed.

Arrival and Departure
School staff will supervise bus drop-off by meeting each bus, monitoring the number of students exiting at one time, and encouraging students to maintain social distancing. Schools will design a dismissal routine that supports social distancing.

Health Screening
Families are responsible for checking their student’s symptoms before they go to the bus stop.

Cleaning and Disinfecting
Buses are disinfected daily. Drivers will sanitize high-touch areas between runs.

Windows
Weather permitting, windows will be open to help increase air circulation.

In-Person Meal Service
SPPS has changed our typical food service procedures in each of our schools. Cafeteria attendants and additional lunch monitors will assist with traffic flow, cleaning and customer service. Breakfast and lunch will be free to all students during in-person learning.

Breakfast service will continue with slight modifications and some menu changes. Students will continue to eat breakfast in their classroom. School cafeterias will be used for serving and eating lunch. Tables will be set to reinforce social distance, and cohorts will remain separate when they are eating in the cafeteria. Signs and floor decals will help remind students to maintain social distance. Acrylic partitions will be placed between staff and students at the serving line, and covered containers will replace traditional lunch trays.

In buildings where the cafeteria is not large enough to meet social distancing guidelines, classrooms may be used as dining space. Nutrition staff will prepare and package meals, and transport foods in individual containers to classrooms.Hand hygiene practices will be in place for all students and staff, and staff will wear face coverings with a face shield when serving students.

Meal Pickup & Delivery
Meal boxes are available for pickup at schools throughout Saint Paul. Meals are free to all children 18 and under, plus those with a disability currently enrolled in a school program. Home delivery is available to Saint Paul Public Schools students who are medically fragile or cannot leave their home to pick up meals.

For more information, visit spps.org/2021meals.

Students who become sick during the school day will be isolated (under supervision) until they can be picked up. It is important that sick students are picked up as soon as possible to limit the risk to other students and staff. Please make sure your contact information is up to date in Campus.

SPPS follows Minnesota Department of Health guidelines every time a student, staff member or visitor submits a report to the COVID-19 Reporting System. In general, only close contacts will be notified in accordance with the communications protocol. If multiple cases are reported within a classroom or building, the whole class or school may be quarantined. Quarantined students and staff will shift to distance learning until they are cleared to return.

Public health guidelines have recently changed regarding COVID-19 quarantines due to close contacts. Saint Paul Public Schools has updated its quarantine guidelines to address these changes.

People who are fully vaccinated (14 or more days after their vaccination series) OR have tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 90 days and have close contact with someone who has COVID-19 do not need to quarantine if they do not have any symptoms and meet other conditions.

People who have close contact with someone who has COVID-19 can get the virus anywhere from two to 14 days after their last contact with that person. While it’s still safest to quarantine for 14 days, continued review of the data suggests the risk of getting COVID-19 and infecting others is greatly reduced after day 10. 

Based on these factors, SPPS has reduced quarantine time from 14 days to 10 days in certain circumstances. You cannot end your quarantine before 10 days for any reason. 

14-day quarantines are still required when someone in your household has symptoms of or has tested positive for COVID-19, as the risk for infecting others is higher within the same household.

State guidelines encourage school districts to look at multiple factors when making decisions about "dialing back" or temporary shifts to distance learning. The guidelines do not set a county COVID-19 case rate that would trigger a shift to distance learning.

SPPS will continue in-person learning under the following conditions:

• State and county regional support team affirms the district’s plan follows the guidelines laid out in the Safe Learning Plan

• Schools are implementing and monitoring the state and district health and safety protocols. This includes social distancing, face coverings, ventilation, hand-washing routines, and optional COVID testing.

• Reported cases of COVID-19 are being monitored and acted on in accordance with Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) guidelines. This includes contract tracing, consideration for the source of any infections, tracking building/classroom case counts, and following the MDH decision tree for schools (linked above).

• There are enough teachers and other staff available to continue in-person learning at a site.
  

In a situation where these conditions are not met, there may be a temporary shift in learning model for an individual classroom or school. Decisions to shift learning models will be made by the district in close consultation with the state and county regional support team.

The Minnesota State High School League and Minnesota Department of Education guidelines for athletics and activities continue to be updated regularly. Please refer to the MSHSL sport guidance and information for the most up-to-date information.

SPPS has developed a comprehensive athletics preparedness plan that all teams will follow. While students are in distance learning, voluntary participation in athletics allows them to interact with their peers and coaches while observing social distancing and other safety measures.

For more information, please visit spps.org/athletics or contact your school's athletic director.