Citing safety concerns connected to the presence of federal agents in the Twin Cities, Saint Paul Public Schools announced that it will be offering the option of temporary virtual learning starting Jan. 22 for the district’s more than 30,000 students.
The district also cancelled school on Tuesday and Wednesday, Jan. 20 and 21, to give teachers time to prepare. Students were already scheduled to be off on Monday, Jan. 19, for the Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday.
In the lead-up to the decision, the district saw student attendance plummet, particularly for students who speak Spanish at home, according to data shared with MinnPost.
On Friday, Jan. 9, amid the federal enforcement crackdown following the Jan. 7 killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis, 51% of students whose home language is Spanish did not show up to school. That compares to absence rates around 20% during comparable days a year ago, in January 2025.
Students whose home language is Somali saw an absence rate of about 24% on Jan. 9, up from about 18% a year ago. Others, including Hmong and Karen speakers, saw small but noticeable increases in absences as well.
Overall compared to 2024, a higher percentage of all students were absent in December 2025 on 13 of the month’s 15 school days.
The district also saw a notable uptick in the number of families who transferred their children out of their home school into the district’s online school option. That program differs from the new virtual learning option.
Between Dec. 1, the start of the federal Operation Metro Surge, and Jan. 13, 183 students transferred to SPPS Online School. Of them, 142, or 77%, identify as Hispanic. Overall, Hispanic students make up only 16% of the district’s total enrollment.
“As student absences continue to increase, there is a strong need for students to maintain a connection to their school, staff and classmates even if they don’t feel safe coming to school at this time,” said Erica Wacker, the district’s director of communications.
Saint Paul Public Schools’ decision follows Minneapolis Public Schools’ decision on Jan. 8 to offer virtual learning through Feb. 12 for similar reasons. SPPS has described their virtual learning option as temporary, though no end date has been set.
In a video announcement to parents on Monday, Jan. 12, SPPS Superintendent Stacie Stanley said, “to date, no ICE or other federal agents have come to any Saint Paul Public Schools building.”
MinnPost has requested attendance data from other Twin Cities metro districts, including Minneapolis Public Schools. We plan to follow up with further stories as more data is shared.
