El Dorado plans on-campus schooling

District: Wildcat Online Academy also being offered as option for classes

EL DORADO — The School District is offering two options for students to attend school this fall bearing in mind the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

For families who want to keep their children at home, the district is offering Wildcat Online Academy, a fully digital learning environment for which students will be provided a Google Chromebook to complete all course work.

The district is also offering a blended on-site learning option. Students will attend school during the normal hours five days a week, with technology integrated in the classroom so that in the event of a virus outbreak in El Dorado, students are able to grab their Chromebooks and move to learning at home.

“Some students will be allowed to take those home [any time]; we haven’t determined what grade levels yet. Definitely ninth through 12th, maybe seventh through 12th,” Superintendent Jim Tucker said. “We want every student to have a Chromebook in their hand at school so if we do have to pivot and go home, all they have to do is grab that device.”

The first day of school for those who choose the district’s on-site blended learning option will be Aug. 13. As long as they are already enrolled in the district, parents don’t need to do anything besides plan to attend their child’s student orientation as designated on the district’s school calendar, available on the website.

The district will be following Arkansas Department of Health guidance for school reopening, which includes instructions for meal times, transportation, sanitizing of classrooms and more. The full Ready for Learning document is available on the Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education website.

Students above the age of 10, as well as all adults, will be required to wear masks on school premises, unless the student has a documented medical condition prohibiting them from wearing one. District regulations on the type of face coverings allowed will be included in the school handbook with dress code regulations.

If social distancing is possible in the classroom, students will be allowed to remove their face coverings for the class period; however, they will be required to wear them during class transitions and other times they are outside the classroom, such as bathroom breaks. They will not be required to wear them while engaging in physical activity or while eating.

Centers for Disease Control-approved hand sanitizer will be available in classrooms and other rooms and students will be asked to use it upon entry and exit to campus locations.

Tucker said the district’s lead nurse, Janet Scarlett, is developing ways to impress on students the importance of not touching one another or their faces along with other CDC and state Health Department recommendations on socializing/gatherings ahead of the school year.

“Janet Scarlett is putting together messaging for teachers and administration to use with students, and probably about two weeks before school, I’ll make a video and put it out on Facebook so parents can go over that with their child,” he said.

CDC and state Health Department guidelines will be posted on campuses, along with illustrations on ways to prevent the spread of germs. The district plans to arrange classrooms to maximize social distancing, Tucker said, and other changes, such as staggered lunch periods and minimizing class transitions, may be utilized as well.

The state Health Department does not require social-distancing on school buses, Tucker said. Bus routes will continue as normal.

“It would be impossible to social-distance on a bus,” he said. “What they are recommending is that everybody on a bus wear a mask.”

Visitors will not be allowed at the school while the pandemic continues.

Students will still have the opportunity to play at recess, though the district notes in a document about on-site learning, available on the district website, that it may look a little different than usual depending on the latest state Health Department guidance.

Students will still have pullout classes, including art, music, library and physical education. For art and music, teachers will come directly to students’ classrooms. Library classes will depend on the latest state Health Department guidance when school starts.

According to the district, it is still unclear what school events — such as athletic games, choir and band concerts and theatrical performances — will look like. That, too, will depend on the latest state Health Department guidance.

“They’ve been pretty understanding about how school districts function,” Tucker said. “[If state Health Department guidance is updated] I don’t see us having a problem changing gears and trying to follow suggestions.”

The district will continue to provide transportation for students that need it to attend concurrent credit courses through South Arkansas Community College. College President Bentley Wallace said the college is still determining how it will model classes for the upcoming fall semester.

“We want every student to have a Chromebook in their hand at school so if we do have to pivot and go home, all they have to do is grab that device.” — Jim Tucker, El Dorado superintendent