MINNEOTA — The new school year was supposed to start Monday at Minneota Public Schools. However, due to a positive COVID-19 case in a school district employee, classes have been postponed while staff members who were exposed undergo quarantine.

Over the weekend, the Minneota school district announced that the start of the school year would be delayed until Sept. 1. The decision also applies to Lincoln Elementary School in Ivanhoe because the two school districts share an administrator, said Minneota and Ivanhoe Superintendent Dan Deitte.

In an announcement on social media on Sunday, the Minneota district said it was notified by the Minnesota Department of Health that a positive case of COVID-19 had been confirmed in a school employee. That employee had been in contact with other school staff last week. The people who needed to quarantine included school administrators at both the Minneota and Ivanhoe school locations, Deitte said Monday.

“We didn’t feel like it was a smart move to open school without principals or a superintendent in the building,” Deitte said.

Deitte said the schools worked with the MDH and the Minnesota Department of Education as contact tracing was done. However, he said it looked like employees including school administrators would need to be quarantined on Aug. 24, when school was originally planned to start this year. By delaying the start of school a week, Minneota and Lincoln Elementary would be in a better position to go back to class, Deitte said.

Deitte said details on the employee who tested positive for COVID-19 couldn’t be released for privacy reasons. However, Sunday’s announcement said the employee would be staying home for at least 10 days, and any staff who were in close contact with them must also stay home or work from home for 14 days.

Deitte said the schools were working to clean and sanitize their facilities, and will be working with the MDH to monitor the situation.