St. Cloud Schools Adapting to COVID-19 for Student Photos

ST. CLOUD -- Picture day is looking a little different for students in the St. Cloud Area School District this fall.

Each school is setting their own schedule, and Apollo High School Principal Alicia Fischer says they were the only one to offer early photo sessions in August.

We paired our students' photographs before school started with our laptop distribution, so that worked well for students and families to come in, kind of a one-stop-shop to get those things if they needed them.

This year some procedural changes include bringing in twice as many photographers, taking photos in larger rooms to allow for social distancing, mask-wearing before and after the photo, and one-way traffic flow.

Fischer says they wanted to have pictures done as early as possible to get students their ID cards to allow for things like contactless lunch service.

Students enrolled in this year's new Distance Learning Academy will have opportunities to have their photos taken later in October.

DLA Secondary Principal Heather Ebnet says the original plan was to take the photos outside.

We tried to do outside pictures, but we couldn't figure out a photographer that would do that due to the quality of the photos that would be taken outside.

Instead, distance-learning students will be taking their school pictures inside Quarryview Education Center in Waite Park.

The sessions will be done by home school once all the physical schools are done.