Some schools have difficult decisions ahead without AMI days
JESSIEVILLE — Passage of the Arkansas LEARNS Act meant the end of alternative methods of instruction days to use during inclement weather, prompting many schools to add makeup days at the end of their calendars.
The lack of flexibility provided by AMI days could make for some tough decisions for school superintendents such as Jessieville School District Superintendent Melissa Speers, whose district sits in the hilly, northeastern corner of Garland County. In fact, she said it will make her job more difficult.
“We have got such a difference in terrain from one end of our district to the other. It may be fine here, the roads may be fine, but in Buckville or in certain areas of (Hot Springs Village), it’s covered in ice. Some of our side roads are ice. So it’s going to make decisions that I have to make about whether we have school much harder,” she said.
AMI days came into effect in 2017 and allowed students and educators to work from home on days when inclement weather or other circumstances caused schools to be closed.
According to an Oct. 26 opinion from Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin, districts may still use approved AMI days, but they will “probably not” count toward the 178 days or 1,068 hours of on-site, in-person instruction required for a school district to be eligible to receive LEARNS funds for teacher salary increases.
Accordingly, most districts will likely not use them.
The Lake Hamilton School District recently issued a statement reminding patrons that with the winter weather season coming up, “provisions in the Arkansas LEARNS Act no longer
allow AMI days to count towards the required days of instruction for public schools in Arkansas. Any days missed due to weather or other emergencies must be made up as on-site instruction days.”
According to their respective 2023-2024 approved academic year calendars, makeup days — if needed — for both Jessieville and Lake Hamilton are scheduled for May 28, 29, 30, 31, and June 3. Lakeside School District’s days are June 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, Mountain Pine School District’s days are May 17, 21, and 22, Cutter Morning Star School District’s days are May 24, 28, 29, and 30, and Hot Springs School District’s days are May 24, 28, 29, 30, and 31.
Rather than tacking days onto the end of the school year, Fountain Lake School District scheduled its days for Jan. 15, Feb. 19, March 29, April 5, and May 28.
Jessieville received nearly $500,000 in state funding to cover the increase in teacher pay required by the LEARNS Act. Speers said she has “no choice” but to not use AMI days, as the district could not afford it otherwise. Last school year, Jessieville used three AMI days during the week following the Jan. 2 tornado that hit campus.
“When we had AMI days, and my staff knew and they did … my teachers would prepare lessons,” she said. “They had them in Google Classroom, they would record themselves teaching, they had it out there available for students, they had virtual office hours where students could log in. I mean, it was still hard for students who didn’t have internet access at home. That was hard. But it still allowed teaching to take place.”
While learning virtually is not “ideal,” she said, it created opportunities to teach and learn throughout the year, while not having to come back and make up those days. She further noted making days up after Memorial Day and year-end testing is not as beneficial, and will likely also affect student attendance.
“Knowing that my teachers were prepared for (a possible AMI day), I was able, late in the evening, if we knew the forecast, or if we already knew the roads were treacherous, I was able to make that call,” Speers said.
“Now, we’re going to have to wait until early in the morning and make that call. We’re potentially going to have to make the call that we’re going to drive main highways and main routes and parents are going to have to bear the burden of trying to get the kids out to those main highways if those are already clear so that we can have school. So it’s going to make my job a little harder and potentially place more of the burden on parents, which I hate that as well.”
Speers said there is also concern from staff, as some commute from as far away as Bismarck and Hollis.
“I live in a rural part of the district,” she said. “And I’ve seen times that Highway 7 and Highway 298 may be clear, but you couldn’t get a bus down the road where I live. So it’s going to complicate things a little bit. Again, I understand the reasoning behind it, that we need students in front of teachers. I understand that piece of it, but I still liked the flexibility of being able to have it virtual.”