Quarantine Considerations

Archived COVID-19 Page

Explanation

Based on protocols laid out in the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) in the COVID-19 Decision Tree for People in Schools, Youth, and Childcare Programs - staff and/or students may need go into quarantine for a period of time and be unable to attend school on site. When this happens, school districts must decide if and how remote work will be supported and services might be provided. Regardless of the circumstance, school districts have options for how they can proceed when staff or students are in quarantine.

Staff in Quarantine: Students On-site

If a staff member needs to be in quarantine, but is well enough to work, a remote work arrangement may be possible so that services can continue without interruption. There are many examples of staff providing high-quality virtual services from a remote location to students who are attending school on-site, but in order to do so, several considerations must be made:

  1. First and foremost, any remote work assignment must be approved by the district of employment. Providing services remotely to students when on quarantine is not required and therefore each local district needs to determine if, when and how such services would be provided.

  2. If a local district authorizes remote service provision for a staff member, proper arrangements need to be made with the building to ensure that the necessary supports are in place, including, but not limited to:

    • Appropriate supervision for the individual learner, small group, or class. This could include a paraprofessional, teacher, or other staff member available to oversee the students while they are receiving the remote service.

    • Adequate technology. The necessary audio and visual equipment will need to be secured and in place prior to providing any remote service. Individual student accessibility needs must also be considered.

    • Proper space for the service to be conducted. If the service is provided to an individual or small group of students, a private space, free of distractions will need to be identified. If the service is being provided to a group of students in an already dedicated classroom, then as long as there is adequate technology, the service can be provided in the existing classroom.

Students in Quarantine: Staff On-site

According to guidance provided by the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE), a student who is well, but unable to attend school on-site (i.e., in quarantine), may be provided direct instruction by an appropriately licensed teacher. This guidance indicates that districts are permitted to provide services to students who are in quarantine, but they are not obligated to do so. It is a local building/district decision regarding whether or not services will be provided to students who are in quarantine. However, regardless of what is decided, that decision needs to be applied broadly and inclusively across all services a student receives. For example, if a district decides to provide general education services to students at its elementary school, then all students who are in quarantine at that must be provided with those services. In addition, any students at that school who require special education services and supports must receive all of their necessary services and supports during the period of quarantine. Districts/buildings/teams cannot pick and choose which services to provide and which to not provide.

Frequently Asked Questions

My building is providing general education services to students in quarantine. What options do I have for how special education services are delivered?

There are several options for how services can be provided to students in quarantine, including both synchronous and asynchronous options. The method of service delivery does not need to be the same for general education and special education or for different special education services. Regardless of the method used, in order to count a student in attendance on any given day in quarantine, there must be documentation of an interaction or contact between the student and the teacher or the parent and the teacher (if the student's needs are such that direct contact with the parent is more appropriate). Options for service delivery are listed below:

      • Set up virtual service (synchronous or asynchronous) with an individual or small group of students, utilizing strategies outlined in the students CLP under distance learning.

      • Remote class participation: schools and students with the technology that allows students to remotely participate in their class for the full school day generate full-time membership. Membership for students who participate for less than the full school day is reduced proportionately.

      • In the student’s home via bundles of instructional material: the student generates membership for the number of days represented by the completed coursework and days of documented interaction with the teacher. Teachers must maintain daily contact and participation records for each student that supports the student’s attendance and membership reported. Daily teacher instructional contact may be provided via live interactive video calls, instructional management websites, email exchanges and/or phone calls. Documented interaction with a teacher must exist for the student to be considered in attendance.

If my building/district is providing services, how is attendance documented?

Attendance is reported per the building attendance procedures. A student can only be counted in attendance when there is documentation of teacher --> student or teacher --> parent contact (i.e, virtual class, text, phone, email, etc.).

If there is no record of contact, the student must be reported as absent for the day.

My building is not providing general education services to students in quarantine, should I be providing special education services?

No. If your building or district has determined to not provide general education services for students in quarantine, then there is no obligation to provide special education services to students in quarantine. Additionally, whenever special education services are provided, they need to be provided comprehensively and completely. it would be problematic to provide some special education services (i.e., speech/language services) and not others (i.e., reading services) when both are necessary for a FAPE.

Bottom line: districts/buildings need to take an all-or-none approach to service delivery for students who are in quarantine.

If a staff member or the building special education team is in quarantine how will that impact evaluations?

If staff is in quarantine more than likely the plan would be to have other staff complete remaining tasks; if the team is out then reach mutually agreeable timeline for completion




If a student is in quarantine how does that impact an evaluation?

There are many factors to consider. Depending on the length of the quarantine, it may not even impact the evaluation timeline. If in-person assessment is necessary in order to complete the evaluation and the quarantine interferes with this, the school should work with the parents to reach a mutually agreeable extension of the evaluation timeline (not to exceed 10 school days upon the student's return from quarantine) and then document this in the form of parent contact documentation in SpEd Forms.