Students at Tracy Area Public Schools returned to their respective
school buildings on Monday for the first time since late November
By Per Peterson
“Welcome back, we missed you!”
With those words, Sheila Fultz, braving a cold Monday morning outside the TracyArea Elementary School building, welcomed students back to school — the first time they’ve been back to the building since Nov. 27, when the district made the decision to move to distance learning Nov. 30 in light of rising COVID-19 numbers in Lyon County.
“It’s always great when you can get kids back in the building,” TAES Principal Michael Munson said upon arrival at the school Monday. “We’re excited. I think we’re blessed every day we can be in school. All around southwest Minnesota, schools have been out for the most part.”
Tracy Area Public Schools was one of the last districts in the region to make the shift to distance learning. At the end of November, the district had 13 active positive cases of COVID-19, and 12 staff members were out for COVID-19-related reasons. There were a total of 110 staff/students out on quarantine at that time.
Students in the eighth grade, which this year are housed at the Veterans Memorial Center, will, for the rest of the year, dismiss at 2:10 p.m.; those at the high school are let out at 2:20 p.m.; and the dismissal time at Tracy Area Elementary School is 2:30 p.m.
See this week’s Headlight Herald for more on this article.