PEA RIDGE -- Normal has changed its appearance for educators in Pea Ridge and across the state.
"It is what it is -- it's our new normal," said Rick Neal, Pea Ridge School superintendent, Monday after Gov. Asa Hutchinson's announced public school buildings would remain closed for the rest of the school year.
"I'm extremely pleased at this team of administrators who've done a fabulous job. I think our teachers have really come through and done some really organic work. It's teaching them to teach outside of the box," Neal said.
He said no decision has been made about graduation for high school seniors. School officials are continuing to support teachers and staff as they adjust to the new system.
"There will be a ripple effect on student achievement," he said, acknowledging education officials are studying the testing/assessment component.
"This is a difficult, challenging time," Neal said. "This office has done a fabulous job supporting staff. We need to keep moving forward with consistent support for teachers ... . Everybody is on board."
"Learning doesn't just take place in hours at school -- this has forced our teachers to think, work, collaborate differently. I'm very proud of them!" he said.
Neal said this is a good reminder "learning happens more than just at school ... we need to continue to be lifelong learners and continue to find ways to learn and not think school is the only vehicle for learning."
"There are a lot of educational opportunities they can do virtually ... schools all the time are doing virtual learning. Parents need to stay engaged ... don't allow it to be an educational dead period. Maintain contact with teachers and with the world around them educationally to look for learning opportunities," Neal said. "They should not just stay home and do nothing at all."
The school will continue to provide lunches to students.
Teachers have been using alternative methods of instruction with Schoology and SeeSaw as well as paper packets for younger students or students who do not have internet access.
Teachers and school staff have used Zoom, an internet platform, to have face-to-face meetings with students and with one another.
Many teachers are also parents and are helping their own children complete their lessons as they also teach their students.
Teacher and coach Heather Wade, mother to three children, said: "It has allowed me to get more time with family. We eat family meals together and take walks together. At first, it was really hard at the beginning not being able to talk to my team. We are now able to message the kids. The situation can be difficult and hard to understand, but it's what you make of it."
She said her own children are fairly independent and able to do their school work with minimum assistance from her or her husband, Mark.
For teacher and coach Melissa Meyers, whose husband, Jake Meyers, is also a Pea Ridge coach and teacher, it has been an opportunity to be creative.
"Fortunately for us, Jake and I are both at home with the kids," Meyers said. "We're on 'man to man coverage,' as he likes to call it, so working from home is not as difficult for us as it may be for others. In the midst of all that is going on, I am grateful to be able to spend so much uninterrupted time with my husband and kids. My oldest misses his friends and teachers. But he's also over the moon to have so much mommy and daddy time.
"We've sent our track kids home workouts based on their events. Fortunately, track is something you can work on individually. It saddens me that kids are missing these important milestones in their lives, but it's made us all take a step back and work on building relationships.
"I've been able to Zoom with my kids and just talk. I want to know how they're doing, what workouts they've done, see what hobbies they've focused on. During a Zoom meeting I had with some of them we talked about getting some Zoom workouts setup so we can workout together next week. We're getting creative," she said.
Statewide
Hutchinson directed the state's public school buildings remain closed until near the end of May for more than 479,000 students in prekindergarten through 12th grade.
Until the school year's end, however, students and teachers are to continue to do schoolwork at their homes using a mix of online, televised and paper lessons from a variety of sources to reinforce core academic lessons taught before school buildings were closed last month.
Hutchinson, accompanied by state Education Secretary Johnny Key, made the announcement during Monday's daily news conference in which Hutchinson provides updates on statewide efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus, which causes the covid-19 illness.
"While we are having some success in slowing the spread, it is clear that this is still going to go on for some time," Hutchinson said. "As a result of it, we are going to have to continue with our mitigation efforts in this state," including the ongoing closure of school buildings to on-site instruction through the end of the school year.
Hutchinson closed all public school buildings in Pulaski, Grant, Jefferson and Saline counties effective March 13 and all school buildings statewide effective March 17. The original plan called for schools to reopen March 30 after spring break, but that was extended to April 20.
"I know this is a hardship, but I think teachers, parents, everyone is prepared for this," Hutchinson said Monday. He praised teachers and students "for hanging in there and not giving up on this school year and recognizing that education has to continue even during this time of a virus."
Arkansas school systems started the school closure period by providing teacher-developed alternative methods of instruction -- or AMI -- lessons to their students. More recently, the state has offered as an option, or as a supplement, some lessons for kindergarten through eighth grade on public television -- Arkansas PBS. For older students, lesson options are available through Virtual Arkansas and the nonprofit Arkansas Public School Resource Center.
Key said Monday that the Arkansas PBS lessons -- developed in conjunction with the Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education -- will be extended by two weeks, to May 1.
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Key urged educators and parents to be flexible about the at-home learning conditions.
"Our schools and educators should set reasonable expectations for [student] time on tasks when they are developing AMI plans. It is impractical to try to replicate the school experience when children are at home," he said. "We need to help students and parents establish flexible schedules for learning that consider that they may need access to learning supports outside the typical 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. school day schedule."
The focus of instruction in the coming days and weeks should be on the core content areas of math, literacy, science and social studies, Key said. Subjects such as art, music and physical education should be blended into the core subject areas "to create fun learning activities for our students," he said.
NW News on 04/12/2020