Detroit Lakes School District Hopeful Omicron COVID Spike Won’t Affect In-Person Learning

DETROIT LAKES (KDLM) – While several school districts in the Lakes Area have had to temporarily transition to distance learning due to a spike in COVID cases recently, the Detroit Lakes School District likely will not.

During the Detroit Lakes School Board meeting, Monday, Superintendent Mark Jenson said COVID numbers are actually going down in the District, “Our number one intention and goal is to keep kids in school…with Omicron we’re getting a spike, but we’re working through it.”

Last week the District reported that 67 students and 15 staff were out due to COVID-19, this week 57 students and 13 staff are considered active, which Jenson says is a good sign that the District is trending in the right direction.

The District did indicate that Lincoln Education Center is over the 5% threshold for COVID-19, requiring students and staff to temporarily mask for several weeks.

Other school districts in the area haven’t been so lucky, Bemidji, Menahaga and Frazee have all had to temporarily transition to E-Learning due to a combination of staff shortages from COVID-19 and high COVID-19 numbers among students in their districts.