SPRINGDALE -- Northwest Technical Institute plans to open Monday to staff and students to complete the spring semester.
The school has been closed to in-person instruction since March 30 because of the covid-19 pandemic.
Students have been doing classwork remotely but must return to complete the lab portion of their courses.
Maria Markham, director of the Arkansas Division of Higher Education, approved the school's plan to open provided it observes guidelines of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the state Department of Health.
Faculty and staff members had a virtual meeting Friday to review protocols.
Everybody who tries to enter the building must undergo a temperature check and answer several screening questions. Anyone with a temperature of more than 100.3 degrees or who answers positively to any screening question will be denied entry, said Robin Eason, vice president of instruction.
Everybody will be required to wear a mask and will be asked to stay at least six 6 apart from others when possible, Eason said.
All halls, entrances, sidewalks and classrooms will have tape placed at appropriate intervals on the floors where possible, according to a school document listing operating procedures.
If 6-foot distancing isn't possible in areas where equipment is used or labs are used, "open doors and windows as much as allowed," the document states.
In the student center, tables must remain 10 feet apart with no more than three people sitting at a table. The school will stagger staff members returning to work to avoid having everyone in the building at the same time, Eason said.
There are 110 students in six of the school's programs -- welding, diesel, ammonia refrigeration/industrial maintenance, electronics, automotive and information systems -- who are expected to finish their spring semester lab work, according to the school. The semester has been extended to June 26.
Automotive classes will have the most students with 32, but they will be spread out in two buildings, school President Blake Robertson wrote in an email.
The institute is a state-supported school offering several programs for high school students and adults. About 225 postsecondary students and 300 high school students were enrolled during the spring semester.
Eason said the school is in touch with its accrediting agency, the Council on Occupational Education, for guidance on how to plan for the fall semester, which may include virtual education.
"We're still in that investigative stage right now, trying to see how we need to proceed, because we really don't want to have everybody on campus at the same time," she said.
NW News on 05/30/2020