More districts go to online only

LITTLE ROCK — Rising covid-19 cases have caused six more Arkansas school districts to pivot to remote learning just before schools head into their winter breaks, according to the Arkansas Department of Education.

Those school districts decided to pivot all or some of their students to remote learning beginning Wednesday and Thursday. Many of the school districts won’t return to in-person teaching until after their winter breaks end following New Year’s Day, superintendents said.

The pivots to remote learning are being driven by local outbreaks within some school districts among students and staff, causing staff shortages, superintendents said.

This week, there have been 17 modifications to instruction plans due to covid-19, totaling 59 for the month, according to Kimberly Mundell, a spokeswoman for the Arkansas Department of Education. In November, there were 126 modifications to instruction due to the coronavirus.

At Fordyce School District, Superintendent Judy Hubbell decided to pivot the entire district to online learning Wednesday with 13 staff members who are sick or quarantining. Hubbell originally decided to pivot just grades 7-12 to online instruction, but after more than 200 students were absent Wednesday, Hubbell made the decision to send all students home, she said.

“I had hoped to complete the semester with face-to-face instruction, but that is simply not going to be possible,” Hubbell said in a statement. “

Along with Fordyce, Parkers Chapel, Dover, Pulaski County, Dierks and Lafayette County school districts have fully or partially pivoted to online learning.

Parkers Chapel in El Dorado moved to online instruction beginning Wednesday “due to an increased number of positive covid-19 tests and a large portion of our faculty being quarantined,” Superintendent Michael J. White said.

The school will return to in-person learning Jan. 4 after its winter break, he said.

“We feel that it is best for our community and School District to cancel on campus instruction to decrease contact and prevent any possible spread,” White said.

At Oak Grove Elementary School and Maumelle Middle School in Pulaski County, officials have “quarantined an increasing number of staff and students” after close contact with the virus, according to a news release. The students at those schools will return to campus after the winter break Jan. 5, according to the news release.

While some pivots to at-home learning affect entire school districts, others are isolated to select grade levels. At Lafayette County School District in Southwest Arkansas, just kindergarten and first-graders will pivot to online schooling after staff members came in contact with covid-19, Superintendent Robert Edwards said.

“We’re a small rural school district, we just have two teachers per grade,” Edwards said.

There have also been outbreaks in other grades as well with 14 fifth-graders quarantining. The entire district will shift to at-home learning Monday, just ahead of its winter break, Edwards said.

In the Little Rock School District, 10 more staff and students tested positive for covid-19, while 66 quarantined according to numbers released by the district Wednesday.

At Romine Elementary School, 19 students are quarantining after one tested positive, according to a report from the district. Last week in the district, there were 57 positive cases and 437 people who quarantined.

Universities continue to see an increase in case counts, as the University of Arkansas reported 65 active cases on campus among students and employees, while the University of Arkansas at Little Rock reported eight active cases among students and staff Wednesday.

Arkansas Tech University reported six active cases on its Russellville campus and none on the Ozark campus on Wednesday.

Arkansas State University had 32 active cases, according to data on it’s website.