East Grand Forks schools adjusts required quarantine period as cases continue to rise
The district is now requiring a 10-day quarantine period for students who are exposed to COVID-19. Students will also no longer be allowed to test out of quarantine, due to the number of students who were allowed to return to school only to later test positive. 6:43 am, May 7, 2021 ×
East Grand Forks Senior High School. File photo
The East Grand Forks Public School District is resuming a mandatory 10-day quarantine period for students who are exposed to COVID-19 due to the continued rise of cases in the district.
East Grand Forks School District reports zero new COVID-19 cases in two weeks
After a year of grim milestones, the East Grand Forks School District reported a positive one: no students or staff have reported testing positive for COVID-19 since Feb. 25. 6:24 pm, Mar. 8, 2021 ×
East Grand Forks Senior High School. File photo
As COVID-19 cases continue to decrease in Polk County, the East Grand Forks School District reported a positive milestone: no cases of the virus have been reported in the school community in the last two weeks.
There have been 193 cases reported in the district among students and staff since the beginning of the pandemic, Superintendent Mike Kolness told the School Board at its regular meeting Monday, March 8, and 17 of those cases were reported between Dec. 22 and Feb. 25. The most recent 14-day average number of cases per capita in Polk County was 13.93.
COVID-19 spread slows to a crawl in East Grand Forks School District
The dip in cases comes as all freshmen returned to full-time in-person learning on Monday, Feb. 8. Grades 6-9 and 10-12 will be phased back into classrooms full-time over the coming weeks. 7:05 pm, Feb. 8, 2021 ×
East Grand Forks Senior High School. File photo
COVID-19 cases are continuing to trend downward in the East Grand Forks School District and across Polk County.
The district has had 187 confirmed positive cases since the beginning of the school year, district Superintendent Mike Kolness told the East Grand Forks School Board at its regular meeting Monday, Feb. 8. Fifty-one of those cases were reported between Dec. 22 and Jan. 18, Kolness said, but between Jan. 19 and Feb. 2, only two positive cases were reported in the district.
The East Grand Forks School Board voted Monday night, Jan. 25, to transition ninth-grade students starting Feb. 8, followed by sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students Feb. 16, and students in grades 10-12 on Feb. 22.
By Doug Barrett
Jan 26, 2021 2:52 PM
East Grand Forks school officials are mapping out plans for bringing more students back into the classroom in light of declining COVID-19 numbers. Superintendent Mike Kolness says over the past month only nine new cases of the virus have been identified in students and staff. “Case numbers in the county and school district have dropped significantly.”
Kolness says it’s not just a simple case of opening the doors. “Due to guidance you can only transition to a less restrictive model three grades at a time per building.”
Kolness says another challenge is keeping kids six feet apart with 20 or 30 kids in a classroom. The board opted to transition ninth grade students back on February 8