To: All Wayzata Employees
From: Stacie Vos, Executive Director of Human Resources
Re: Coronavirus
The coronavirus (COVID-19) has created some new challenges for schools. District leaders are working very hard to develop plans for educating our children should we find ourselves in a position of school closures. You are probably wondering how closing school or E-Learning days may impact you as an employee of Wayzata Public Schools. Human Resources will be doing our best to communicate with you throughout this process and to answer the questions and concerns you may have.
First of all, please remain calm and take care of yourself. We know that our immune system is weakened when we are under constant stress. Make sure you are getting enough sleep, drinking water, eating healthy, exercising, and engaging in activities that bring you joy each day. Please make taking care of yourself a priority. Remember your Vital Life Employee Assistance Program is here to support you (user ID is: wayzata Password: member).
Prevention is key. The District upon the recommendation of the MDH and CDC have recommended the following to prevent sickness. Covering your cough and sneezes, washing your hands with soap and water for 20 seconds, avoid touching your face, and staying home if you have flu-like symptoms. It should also be noted that employees should not report to work under the following conditions. When to stay home.
- Oral fever of 100 Degree F or higher. Do not return to work until you are fever free (without medication) for 24 hours.
- Two or more episodes of vomiting within a 24-hour time period.
- Diarrhea, increased number of stools compared with a person's normal pattern. Do not return to work until the diarrhea stops or a medical exam indicates this is not due to a communicable disease.
- Rashes – Please seek out a medical evaluation to indicate symptoms are not communicable.
- Uncontrolled coughing, difficulty breathing, wheezing, unusually tired, unusual color. Again, seek medical attention.
We want to encourage employees to stay home during the first sign of illness, because the virus appears to be most contagious in the first days that a person is sick. This is not the time to tough it out. Remember that all employee master agreements provide for paid sick leave. This is the time to utilize this benefit.
The District wants you to be aware of the following:
- The District will be sharing a process in which employees may borrow sick leave days. In an effort to slow down the spread of coronavirus, we do not want employees coming to work sick due to financial obligations. Request for Borrowed Sick Days
- Wayzata Public Schools has a solid health insurance plan with PreferredOne and will offer the same coverage for COVID-19 testing and care as it does for all other qualified medical expenses. Any in-network costs for this testing and treatment would go toward the annual deductible and out of pocket costs for individuals covered on our health plan. For those employees with a VEBA/HRA or medical flexible spending account, any qualifying COVID-19 expenses would be eligible for reimbursement. We continue to work with our partners to monitor the situation and will communicate any changes.
- If an employee is placed on quarantine, due to coronavirus exposure, the employee will be placed on paid leave.
- The employee may be asked to work from home.
- The employee may be expected to make up those days at a future date without additional pay.
- If you have a special health consideration that you are concerned about, please reach out to Human Resources. We want to support your health and well-being.
An overall impact of the coronavirus may be in the modification of how and where we do our work. The following list articulates how the District may modify our work and what will be expected in each situation.
- If the District closes due to the coronavirus, staff will not be expected to report to work and will receive a regular day's pay.
- The employee may be expected to make up those days at a future date without additional pay.
- Select staff may be expected to work from home.
- The District maintains the right to modify this plan based upon the number of days school is closed.
- If only certain building(s) are closed, staff from those building(s) may be expected to report to work to provide assistance in other buildings.
- The District may determine that staff from these buildings would not need to report to work. In that case, employees would be paid their regular day's pay.
- The employee may be expected to make up those days at a future date without additional pay.
- District-Wide E-Learning Expectations: All work done from home.
- Culinary Express - Not required to perform normal duties. May be assigned special responsibilities as needs arise.
- Custodians - Not required to perform normal duties, but may be called in for special responsibilities as needs arise. (Intensive cleaning, etc.) Select custodians may be needed to monitor boilers and maintain the running of the building.
- Wayzata Kids (Home Base) - Not required to perform normal duties. May be assigned special responsibilities as needs arise via Site Managers. **Note, full-day preschool PIs will be required to implement the expectations outlined in the E-Learning plan.
- Paraprofessionals, Wayzata Kids Special Needs Program Instructors, Wayzata Kids Program Assistants, ECFE Paras, ELS Assistants - Select paraprofessionals may be asked to assist students with special needs (IEPs) or may be assigned special responsibilities as needs arise. All others will not be required to perform normal duties.
- Principals/Associate Principals - Expected to work from home and may be assigned alternate or additional responsibilities.
- Teachers - Required to implement the expectations outlined in the E-Learning plan. This includes ECFE and ELS and Bright start preschool teachers.
- Peer Coaches - work to support classroom teachers.
- Teachers on Special Assignment (TOSA) - Continue their work at home as directed by the Director of Curriculum and Instruction.
- Special Education Teachers - Same expectations as classroom teachers supporting students on IEPs.
- ABE Teachers - Not required to perform normal duties. May be assigned special responsibilities as needs arise.
- School Nurses - Will reach out to families with medically fragile students to address concerns and provide guidance.
- Secretaries (12 and 10 month) - Secretaries may be expected to work from home. Building secretaries may also be expected to assist with communications between parents/students and teachers/administrators. Specific expectations should be provided by the building principal or supervisor.
- Wayzata Kids Site Base Managers - Expected to work from home. Specific expectations will be provided by the Program Manager.
- Unaffiliated Levels 1 and 2 - Not required to perform normal duties but may be assigned to complete tasks from home.
- Unaffiliated Levels 3 and 7 - Continue work expectations and duties from home. Work with supervisors, directors, and departments.
With Spring Break quickly approaching, the District is asking that you carefully consider your travel plans. More information will be shared with you as we get closer to break.
All employees should work to create short-term and long-term plans for their families. Changes to our work days, E-Learning and school closures, may occur on relatively short notice.
The following link is set up for you to share concerns or to get answers to questions you may still have. We will work diligently to respond to your concerns. Take care!