Coronavirus Information and Resources

Updates to this page will be made as needed and as new information is released. This page was last updated on April 1, 2020.

State orders closure

Monona Grove schools are closed effective immediately.

This closure will continue through the duration of the public health emergency. Please click here for more information.

We are restricting access to our buildings beginning the evening of Tuesday, March 17. If you anticipate needing access to the building, please call the main office of your child's school.

Virtual Learning Opportunities

Since the Governor's original closure order on March 12, our administrators, teachers, and staff have been preparing for the possibility of an indefinite school closure. We know many of you are feeling unsettled and overwhelmed. We want to emphasize that you are not in this alone; we are here to support you and your families, and we will continue to serve you in every way that we can.

There is no playbook for what we are experiencing and so we want to be deliberate, intentional and thoughtful about how we proceed. Our plan is to provide ongoing learning opportunities for our students beginning April 6. While our teachers continue to plan and prepare lessons for your students, take a look at some of the resources we have available and consider trying out an option or two.

Participation and engagement in tasks assigned by teachers is expected. If teachers are noticing lack of or nonparticipation, the teachers and principal will reach out to explore the circumstances and problem solve barriers. Students will show ‘proof of learning’ through their work product, not how many hours or minutes they sat in front of their device.

Food Service Available During Closure

En Espanol

Please note: Providing meals for our families is an incredibly important service during this closure. We will be sending daily email and SMS/text reminders to sign up for the free breakfast and lunch to all families. If you do not need the information in this message, please ignore/delete. The daily email will have the subject line: MGSD Meal Request Reminder. The SMS/text will say "MGSD: Click to sign up for meal service: https://tinyurl.com/w3hbp42." If we have changes or updates to alert you on, the subject line and SMS/text message will change.

The Monona Grove School District School Nutrition Department will be providing FREE pre-packaged, grab-and-go Breakfast and Lunch to any child age 18 and under.  In order to ensure that enough meals are available we are asking families to complete the following meal request form no later than 11:59 pm the prior day.   School Nutrition staff will prepare and, along with Nelson's Bus Service, deliver meals to each of the identified sites at the time published on a daily basis (Monday thru Friday). Each day, children ages 18 and under will receive two (2) pre-packaged meals (lunch for the day of and breakfast for the following day) FREE. 

- Children must be present at the time of pick up

- Must be 18 years old or under

- Children do not need to be school age nor attending the Monona Grove School District to qualify

- Everyone is welcome to participate, there is no income limit

Please note that over the course of the next few days, additional sites will be added and times of delivery might change.

Thank you to everyone that reached out willing to volunteer and donate towards this program.  I encourage everyone that is interested in donating time, food and money to contact our local food pantries and community organizations that are also working to support our communities.  We have a strong community that everyone should be proud of!  Please share this information with all families in our community.  

Thank you to those of you who have offered to donate non-perishable food items to schools and food pantries. Given the circumstances, those donations are perhaps more important than ever. Please click here and scroll to page 2 for information on food drives and donations.  

Travel - International and Domestic - and Quarantines

Updated travel guidance, as of March 12, 2020, at 8 pm: Public Health and DHS recommend people postpone or cancel nonessential travel to areas with community transmission of coronavirus. This includes both international travel  to Level 2 and 3 countries with widespread illness and domestic travel to states with community transmission (scroll down to the map and either hover over a state for data or click the + below the map for a full list). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updates this information daily. If travel is essential, Public Health recommends a 14-day self-quarantine upon your return. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services has more information about how to self-quarantine.

District and School Related Travel

We are monitoring all district or school sponsored travel, in and out of Wisconsin. We will evaluate these trips on a case by case basis and notify staff and families as soon as possible if any changes need to take place. This includes travel for meetings, conferences, field trips or any other events. This monitoring will remain in place until further notice; we will regularly revisit the status of this measure.

Talking to Your Family About Coronavirus

Some schools are reporting an increase of student anxiety related to illness and pandemic planning. Consider talking with your student(s) as a family. Some suggestions include:

• Stick to the facts. It can be scary to hear about a disease outbreak, but learning the facts can help ease your mind.

• Help your student remain calm, and assure them their risk is low. 

• Remind your family that when we are prepared for difficult situations, we make informed decisions and have more control.

• It's important that we avoid assumptions or stereotypes about who you think may be sick. Viruses cannot target people from specific populations, ethnicities, or racial backgrounds. A person’s race does not make them more or less likely to be sick or to get sick. 

Additional resources for talking with your family:

• Brainpop video aimed at kids that explains coronavirus
• Webcomic and 3-minute audio story aimed at kids on coronavirus
• How to Talk to Your Kids about coronavirus (PBS/Daniel Tiger - for young children)
• Article and podcast on "What to Say to Kids When the News is Scary"
• "Talking to Teens and Tweens About Coronavirus"
• The National Association of School Psychologists have an entire page of resources on this topic here. 

Additional Resources

The coronavirus situation changes virtually every day. For the most up-to-date information, visit the pages below. 

• Public Health Madison and Dane County page on COVID-19

• Wisconsin Department of Health Services page on COVID-19

• Centers for Disease Control page on COVID-19