Head of School message on Public Health and SPPS Teacher Strike

for a version of this letter as a PDF, click here

Hello Families of Great River School, 

We enter March 2020 -  and the approach of spring -  and we find ourselves in the midst of a busy news cycle. From public health concerns on COVID-19 and a possible teacher strike at Saint Paul Public Schools, there’s news that brings questions from our families. I’ve placed summaries below for families to keep us all up-to-date on how Great River is planning ahead, and keeping prepared for serving our students and community. Please read below and keep in touch with us if you have questions. 

Possible SPPS Teacher Strike 

What you need to know: Great River plans to hold school as expected through the 2020 school year. A SPPS teacher strike will not change our school calendar. 

You may have heard about the announcement of the Saint Paul Public School (SPPS) teacher strike, possibly taking place on March 10th, 2020. Great River School is an independent school district, our teachers are not a part of the SPPS union, and our district is not a part of the impending strike, negotiation, or solution.  On the second page (attached) I have provided more information and context regarding the possible teacher strike at SPPS, as well as information about our school board and our teachers. Please read on in the attached page if you are interested in more background! 

Public Health Concerns & Coronavirus

What you need to know: We have no recommendations from Minnesota agencies to change our operations  as of 3/1/2020, and we will continue school as normal.

We have received many inquiries from families regarding preparation and planning for public health concerns in the midst of the Coronavirus (COVID-19). We follow national and state agency recommendations, including MN Department of Education.  Great River is planning for many possible scenarios. I’ve included more details attached below. Please always wash your hands often, especially in the winter cold/flu season. Also please keep your student at home if sick -including fever, vomiting/diarrhea, or unexplained rash. We reference common school criteria - see guidance on “when to keep my student home” here from our neighboring district. 

Sam O’Brien
Head of School 

To see the extra details on SPPS Strike and/or COVID-19 preparation, click here, or read below

Saint Paul Public Schools & Teacher Strike 

BackgroundContext & Great River School

Background on the situation at SPPS
Teachers in Saint Paul Public School’s district have a union that has agreed to a strike if demands for increased resources for mental health and teacher compensation are not met by the district. Below, from one news source: 

“Superintendent Joe Gothard said in a statement that the district is offering wage increases in each of the two years of a new contract and investments of more than $1 million in additional student support positions. But he said the district is grappling with declining enrollment and underfunding from state and federal sources.”

Relationship of SPPS  to Great River School

Our school board is independent of SPPS - we are not a part of the Saint Paul Public School district. As an independent charter school, our board is responsible to all the mandates of every public district in MN. Our school board is also responsible for making sure we don’t spend more money than we have as revenue. We get our funding from the state of MN, and unlike SPPS, we have no levies or additional revenue from a local tax base. Great River School is also generally underfunded by state investments, and our costs rise faster year to year than the revenue we get from the state. 

What does this mean for our school & our teachers? 

Great River School faces the same challenges of under-funding that SPPS mentions above. To be clear: our school carries out the programs, the experiential trips, the innovative curriculum, with 86 cents for every 1 dollar that SPPS spends. We prioritize mental health support and interventions for students, and we do everything in our power to make Great River an excellent place to work for our employees. However, low teacher compensation is a result of the systemic underfunding of schools at our state and federal level. Our teachers are exceptionally dedicated, and on average our pay is 20-30% lower than SPPS salaries. Teachers work at GRS because they love the work, the students, and our mission. Our school board wants to increase teacher compensation, however, we lack the necessary funds. We are seeking ways to increase teacher pay, and any meaningful increase for teachers requires a significant increase in revenue. 

How can you help Great River’s Teachers?  

We ask for you - as Great River Families - to: 

  • Tell your state representative that all MN students deserve the same funding - and to fund charter districts equally with public districts. Click here to find your state representative’s contact information. 

  • Support the school by volunteering for committees, the board, PEG, and the GRS Foundation!

  • Tell your loved ones and each other about the importance of becoming sustaining donors to the Annual Fund to support and continue GRS’s pioneering programming http://www.greatriverschool.org/give

Public Health & Coronavirus School response planning

We understand Great River School  families may have questions and concerns regarding the much-publicized global coronavirus outbreak. We are  proactively outlining actions that would be taken in the event of significant student or staff absences during the school year. Our planning is twofold: First, actions to be taken in the case that school is open, and how to address significant student or staff absences. Second, schools in the State could be closed by the Department of Education.  In this case, we will work with the department to address student education needs as well as possible alternatives to the school calendar. 

In any event, parents always retain the right to determine if their child will attend school or not. (If you are curious about law regarding excused absences, see guidances from the MN Dept. of Ed here > click for pdf) 

As we develop plans for Great River School, we will consider the following issues including:

  • Reporting of student and staff absences

  • Attendance policies, academic credit, and grading considerations

  • Flexible learning days

  • Co-curricular contests and events

  • School cleaning & disinfection protocols

  • Prevention strategies and education

  • District communication to families (multiple scenario plans) 

In addition, our licensed school nurse continues to meet and work closely with us at school and with public health officials. We reference the Minnesota Department of Health and will follow their recommendations. For more information, visit www.health.state.mn.us/diseases/coronavirus/schools.html

As always, we do ask that if your student stays home until 24 hours after these symptoms have passed: 1. Fever over 100*F; 2. Vomiting and/or Diarrhea; 2.Unexplained or new rash. We reference the same criteria used by Saint Paul Public School district - listed here. (click for link) .

Last, we are passing along guidance from the CDC for parents, families, and schools: 

Need to know links: 

Links regarding travel: