Spring Valley EDA News

Name: Merredith Farlinger

Parents: Darcy and Ranee Farlinger

School Activities: Cross Country, Basketball, and National Honor Society.

Activities/Work Outside of School: Youth group, youth band, Just for Kix, and Sunday school helper.

Your Favorite Class and Why? I like being a teaching assistant for Mrs. Noble because I enjoy working with the kids.

Why is a Solid Education Important? A solid education is important because it is creating a foundation for my future.

Immediate Plans After High School Graduation: I’m going to attend college at University Wisconsin – Eau Claire. I am either going to college for social work or elementary education.

Long-term Plans/Goals: After completing my four-year degree, finding a job in my chosen field.

Note: The Spring Valley Kiwanis Club annually recognizes the top academic performers at Kingsland High School. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the plans to honor the students in person are still unknown. Typically, they attend a meeting of Kiwanis with their parents for recognition.

(Original story retrieved from the Office of the Governor Website.  For the original story with quotes from the Governor, click here: Governor Walz Announces Timeline to End State COVID-19 Restrictions (mn.gov)

[ST. PAUL, MN] – Governor Tim Walz today announced a three-step timeline to end nearly all state COVID-19 restrictions by May 28, and end the statewide masking requirement once 70% of Minnesotans age 16 years and older get their vaccine, or by July 1. The announcement comes as more than 2.6 million Minnesotans have gotten their shot and the state is on track to vaccinate 70 percent of Minnesotans by the end of June.

The most at-risk Minnesotans – seniors, long-term care residents, assisted living residents, educators, and front-line workers – have gotten their vaccines. Nearly 90 percent of Minnesotans over the age of 65 have gotten at least one dose.

Since mid-April, COVID-19 cases have declined. Hospitals are seeing fewer admissions and vaccination progress has relentlessly pushed forward. Vaccines held COVID-19 variants at bay and avoided having them overwhelm our state.

The three-step process will end nearly all state COVID-19 restrictions by May 28, and end the statewide masking requirement by July 1 at the latest.

Step one takes place at noon on May 7. It includes initial steps to relax some restrictions, primarily in outdoor settings.

• Removes limits for outdoor dining, events, and other get-togethers, and ends the mask requirement outdoors except at large venues with over 500 people.
• Eliminates the state-established mandatory closing time for bars, restaurants, and food and beverage service at other places of public accommodation.

The second step begins on May 28. Remaining capacity and distancing limits will come to an end, including for indoor events and gatherings. The requirements that will remain include:

• Face coverings indoors and for outdoor events that exceed 500 people.
• There will be no new safety requirements for businesses, though they must maintain their plans to keep their employees and customers safe – as they have from the beginning of the pandemic – guided only by a minimal universal state guidance document.

The third step takes place once 70 percent of Minnesotans age 16 years and older – 3,087,404 Minnesotans – get at least one dose of the vaccine, but no later than July 1.

• The remaining face covering requirement and the requirement for preparedness plans will end. Work on vaccines will continue, and local jurisdictions and entities may set their own mask policies.

Because the youngest Minnesotans are not yet eligible for the vaccine, the Safe Learning Plan for schools will continue until the end of the school year to protect students, teachers, and staff in schools.

Additional protections will remain, including the eviction moratorium, a ban on price gouging, and eligibility exemptions for people who receive state services. The State will continue its emergency efforts to get Minnesotans tested and vaccinated and will continue to monitor the virus and the growth of variants in the months to come.

Additionally, local jurisdictions and businesses may still require masks and have other requirements beyond July 1.

Minnesotans can visit VaccineConnector.mn.gov to make a vaccine appointment at a Community Vaccination Program site or use the Find Vaccine Locations map to locate a provider near them.

Executive Order 21-21 is effective immediately upon approval by the Minnesota Executive Council, which is made up of Governor Walz, Lt. Governor Flanagan, Attorney General Keith Ellison, Secretary of State Steve Simon, and State Auditor Julie Blaha.

Name: Grace House

Parents: Heidi and Brady House

School Activities: Drama Club, and National Honor Society

Activities/Work Outside of School: Hardware Hank

Your Favorite Class and Why? My favorite class this year has been the developmental psychology class that I took through Riverland Community College. I really enjoy learning about the brain and how it works and it was very interesting to learn how our brains develop as we age.

Why is a Solid Education Important?  Getting a solid education is a great way to prepare for life. Along with learning the proper lessons to get a job that you want, it also helps to prepare you for many other life experiences that will follow both high school and college.

Immediate Plans after High School Graduation: ​I plan on attending college at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities and getting my bachelor’s degree in early childhood education.

Long-term Plans/Goals: I plan to get a job teaching young children after college.

Note: The Spring Valley Kiwanis Club annually recognizes the top academic performers at Kingsland High School. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the plans to honor the students in person are still unknown. Typically, they attend a meeting of Kiwanis with their parents for recognition.

Communicated on behalf of MN-DEED Commissioner Steve Grove

Business and Community Leaders,

I hope you are all doing well. Thank you for your continued leadership in helping our business community weather the pandemic.

I’m reaching out today to share that we are doing a push this week to encourage workers in manufacturing to get vaccinated. There are more than 8,000 manufacturers across Minnesota, and this week, we are prioritizing their vaccine appointments through the Vaccine Connector.

We’d love your help. Here’s what you can do:

• Message your members, community, and employees in the manufacturing industry on the importance of getting vaccinated. Share with them that the state is proactively prioritizing manufacturers this week.
• Share the employer toolkit with manufacturers in your community – it’s the best resource for them to help their employees
• Post on social media, using the attached graphics, to encourage manufacturing employees to get vaccinated. The hashtag is #RollUpYourSleevesMN

Your voice as leaders in our communities can make a big difference in accelerating our progress in vaccine distribution.

You may have heard about the CDC and FDA’s recommendation to take a temporary pause on further administration of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine out of an abundance of extreme caution. It’s important to note there have only been 6 incidents out of almost 7 million people who have received the J&J vaccine and we have no reports of any similar reactions in Minnesota.

We have moved quickly to adjust to this development and stand ready to continue vaccinating Minnesotans this week with almost 200,000 doses of Pfizer and Moderna. Our critical workforce is a top priority.

Signing up for the Connector means you will both be given information about where the vaccine is available near you and put you on a list to be contacted if there is an available appointment for you at a nearby state vaccination site.

Bottom line: The best way to get your employees or members a vaccine is to help them get a spot in line!

If you know that one of your employees or members is unable to sign up online, has questions, or needs language assistance, please direct them to call the Minnesota COVID-19 Vaccine Connector Hotline at 1-833-431-2053.

Please reach out with any questions, and thank you again for your help.

Yours,

Steve

Steve Grove | Commissioner – he/him/his – MN- Department of Employment and Economic Development

1st National Bank Building, 332 Minnesota St., Suite E200, St. Paul MN 55101