Farmington schools to require face coverings

FARMINGTON — School District staff and students, from kindergarten through seniors, will be required to wear face coverings at school when social distancing isn’t possible, according to the district’s Ready for Learning procedures and protocols released last week.

The three-page document, released to parents through social media, the district’s website and email, says students and staff should wear face masks in areas of high concentration of others, including wearing face masks while riding a school bus.

The district is in the process of procuring two cloth face coverings for students and staff to give out at the beginning of the year. Parents will be expected to supply any additional face coverings. The plan says face masks when being used should cover the nose and mouth.

In a letter to Farmington students, parents and staff, new Superintendent Jon Laffoon pointed out the district is “facing a global pandemic never before seen in any of our lifetimes.”

He said the procedures and protocols are “designed to mitigate, not eliminate” the risk of covid-19 and are driven by health recommendations and guidance from the Arkansas Health Department, Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Laffoon also notes in this letter the information in the document is accurate at the time of distribution but could change at any time.

TWO OPTIONS AVAILABLE

Farmington will provide an on-site traditional school setting with an added digital component, called blended learning, and an online learning option through the Farmington Virtual Academy for kindergarten through 12th grade.

By adding a digital component to the traditional setting, students will be able to pivot from on-site classes to remote instruction quickly and easily if necessary, Laffoon said.

Students on-site will use Google Classroom (grades 3-12) as their digital learning management system. Younger students will use a system called Seesaw.

Students in the online academy in K-8th grades will use a learning management system called Lincoln Learning and high school students will use Virtual Arkansas.

Laffoon said additional information about the online academy was sent to parents Friday, along with a survey. Parents are asked to sign up for the virtual academy by Friday .

In his letter to stakeholders, Laffoon said students enrolled in the online academy are Farmington students and are eligible to participate in extracurricular activities.

Laffoon points out that parental support will be a “crucial component” of the online academy learning model. The school will provide a laptop to students who don’t have access to an electronic device supporting online learning.

For students who don’t sign up for the online academy, the district will plan on them showing up for on-site classes on Aug. 24, the first day of school.

The school did a parent survey earlier this summer and results showed about 72.5% of parents said their children would return to school, 14.9% would stay home for online learning and the rest were undecided.

Stephanie Pinkerton, assistant superintendent, said 1,356 families, representing 2,140 students, responded to the survey.

“We thought that was a good representation,” Pinkerton said.

COMMITTEE MEETS OVER SUMMER

The district’s Ready for Learning Committee has been meeting over the summer to plan for the start of school amid the new coronavirus pandemic. Committee members include administrators, teachers, parents and staff from specialized areas, such as technology, medical, and nutrition.

“For us, in preparing for the future, I think we’ll have to stay flexible and be resilient and be able to overcome the unexpected,” Laffoon said.

A staff survey showed the overall intent of teachers is to get back to serving students, Laffoon said.

“We have great teachers. They were so positive,” he said.

At the same time, teachers definitely had some concerns, Laffoon said. Comments in the survey showed teachers believed everyone should wear a mask at school where physical distancing wasn’t possible. Laffoon said he was glad to hear that because he felt the same way.

“Ultimately, it’s about safety,” Laffoon said. “They want to really work on the physical distancing part of it, have everyone in masks and said they were willing to wipe down doors and desks to make it safe for everyone.”

The district’s Ready for Learning plan shows social distancing will be observed and encouraged as much as possible for on-site learning.

Parents will be expected to screen their children each day using guidelines from the Health Department before entering a school bus or building. Staff also will be required to complete a screening each day. The same screening protocols will be used for all visitors to the schools.

CLEANING PROTOCOLS

In addition to standard daily, weekly and monthly cleaning specifications, Farmington has added other measures, such as disinfectants to be used between groups of students, wiping high-touch areas frequently and antiviral misting of rooms. The school has purchased an electrastatic misting machine for each campus.

Laffoon said his father worked for a hospital so he realizes the importance of additional disinfecting protocols. He said the district will work with an infection prevention and control vendor to ensure buildings, classrooms and buses are safe.

He said this vendor will come in intermittently to test for bacteria and viruses “to make sure we are doing a good job.”

Farmington received about $200,000 from the CARES Act for covid-19 and will use that money for expenses related to the virus.

The district is encouraging parents to bring their students to school since social distancing isn’t possible on a school bus. Students and bus drivers must wear masks on the buses. Students will sit by household and have assigned seats. Hand sanitizer will be available on the buses and each bus will be disinfected after every trip.

Other measures in the plan show elementary students will have outdoor recess time that limits the number of students they come in contact with. All schools will have at least one water bottle filling station and students are encouraged to bring their own personal water bottles to schools.

Depending on the buildings and the number of students who return for on-site instruction, classrooms will be arranged to maximize distancing, halls marked with two one-way lanes and halls marked to show 6-foot distancing.

VISITORS LIMITED

For the most part, visitors will be limited at schools, except for staff, enrolled students, parents picking up ill or injured students and professionals providing necessary services to children and staff.

The nutrition staff is reviewing cafeteria protocols to meet distancing and large gathering recommendations. Outside visitors will not be allowed for lunch and outside food deliveries from restaurants will be prohibited. Students can bring a lunch from home if they don’t want to eat a school lunch.

For now, sports activities will continue in the fall with possible modifications. The district is still waiting to receive guidance about band and choir classes.

A POSITIVE COVID-19 TEST

In the event, a student or staff member tests positive for covid-19, the district will follow the latest guidance from the Health Department and CDC. The document says a positive case could result in a brief closing of a single school or multiple schools. In the event of a closing, onsite students will transition to blended learning.

OTHER NEEDS

Laffoon said the safety of students and staff is the number one priority of the district. However, he said there are concerns about having enough substitute teachers and bus drivers.

“Yes, those are things we’re worried about,” Laffoon said.

The document ends with several sections about the responsibilities of those attending on-site classes. Parents are encouraged to have good prevention habits with their family members.

Teachers are to encourage students to stay home if they are sick, clean and disinfect frequently and to have a blended learning plan ready to go for digital learning if students are sent home.