The state's largest school district announced that it is shifting to remote learning the week after Thanksgiving break because of a shortage of substitutes for teachers and staff members quarantined due to probable close contacts to individuals who have tested positive for the coronavirus.
The Springdale School District, which has some 22,000 students, announced Tuesday that off-site learning would continue after this week's holiday until Dec. 7 when in-classroom instruction will resume.
That decision stems from the number of staff members quarantined and unable to return to work after Thanksgiving, Superintendent Jared Cleveland said via phone Tuesday evening.
Administrators project that they will not be able to find enough substitutes for the week after Thanksgiving, he said. The staff and teachers who are not required to quarantine will report to campuses as normal. Students who have special needs or whose parents do not have child care for them at home will also be able to attend.
Cleveland says he expects up to 20% of students to be on campus during the remote learning period. Buses will not run during the week.
"The question I have is when does remote learning trump in-person learning?" Cleveland said. "Well it trumps in-person learning when you don't have a qualified, caring adult in front of the classroom teaching the class."
"That is the pivot point that caused me to move forward with this decision," the superintendent said.
The Springdale district has 131 active cases, according to data released Monday by the Arkansas Department of Health. Throughout the fall semester, Springdale has remained one of the districts with the highest caseload in the state.
Cleveland said he and his administrative team felt like the extra week off would allow for quarantines among the faculty to expire, allowing more to return to campus for work and alleviating the need for so many substitutes.
"Theoretically, all of our staff, should they not become covid positive or become a close contact should be available on the seventh [of December]," Cleveland said.
He said if numbers of cases and quarantines do not improve, the district may consider remote learning until after Christmas.
"It is something I would consider should the need arise," he said. "I, along with my whole team, will be evaluating the numbers in our community and monitoring our staff to see if it has gotten better or worse."
De Queen Elementary, part of the De Queen School District, also will have off-site learning the week after Thanksgiving because of covid-related effects on its support staff, the district announced Monday on Facebook.
LITTLE ROCK
The Little Rock School District, the second-largest district with nearly 21,000 students, announced Tuesday a shift to virtual learning one regular day a week throughout the spring semester.
Beginning in January, every Friday will be a virtual learning day for all students, Superintendent Mike Poore and Deputy Superintendent Jeremy Owoh said Tuesday.
The video announcement came after the district earlier this month conducted a survey of employees, parents and students to gauge support for a weekly virtual day in which all students -- including those who typically attend classes on campus -- would do their school work online.
Owoh said nearly 4,000 people participated in the survey and supported the virtual day concept, as well as the use of Friday as the selected day.
The virtual Friday school day will replace the Little Rock district's current practice of releasing students early on Wednesdays, district spokeswoman Pamela Smith said.
The virtual day is intended to be a "full academic day," Owoh said. Students are to be able to get support from their teachers that day. Teachers are to use the Fridays to provide academic support to their typically in-person students and to their remote-learning students, and to do lesson planning.
Families who need to send students to campus on Fridays can do so, the school district leaders said. School buses will run their usual routes on Fridays, and school meals will be served. Students who are on campus on Fridays will work online and be able to get support from their teachers.
Additionally, student extracurricular activities will proceed as normally scheduled for Fridays, and the district's after-school elementary school child care program will operate on Fridays.
More details are to come about how the virtual day will be structured, Owoh said.
District leaders wanted to give parents notice as soon as possible about the plan so that parents can make any necessary arrangements and provide additional feedback to the district staff, Poore said. Poore called the plan "a win-win for everyone."
In adopting the use of a weekly online instructional day, the Little Rock district is joining several other districts in the practice.
PIVOTING
There are 37 districts across the state with some type of modification because of the virus, Johnny Key, the state education commissioner, said during the governor's weekly covid news conference Tuesday.
Last week, 41 schools filed modifications with the Arkansas Department of Education, fewer than the 46 districts that filed changes the week before. Districts may shift individual classes, grades and campuses to remote learning because of high numbers of probable close contacts and positive cases. Those shifts could last anywhere from a day to a couple of weeks.
Key said there are 267 inactive modifications, which means a return to normal instruction.
The Department of Education has compiled data illustrating the scope of school modifications so far this year, the education secretary said. That data indicates that for many districts, specifically 67%, changes were made for individual grade levels. Nearly 30% of shifts to off-site learning were for an entire school within a district, he said. Only 4% were for all schools within a district, some of which were weather-related.
"The data shows that all schools are doing a very good job of targeting their response," Key said.
The Department of Health reported 2,161 cumulative active cases in public schools in the report released Monday.