Districts devising online options

Pandemic makes schools in state rethink

ARKANSAS — The covid-19 pandemic is turning kindergarten-through-12th-grade education on its ear by making a virtual education option a standard for large numbers of students in the state’s school systems.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson and Arkansas Education Secretary Johnny Key say frequently that they want the state’s more than 1,000 school campuses to reopen to students and teachers in mid-August after being closed since mid-March.

But schools and districts are also told by the state leaders to have virtual education programs in use or at the ready for all students and to be able to pivot among the traditional and virtual options in response to the state of the pandemic.

Speaking in Fort Smith last month after meeting with Fort Smith Superintendent Doug Brubaker, the governor said flexibility is critical for the coming year.

They want to have classroom instruction, Hutchinson said of districts. But if there is a positive covid-19 case or if they have students with health conditions that make them vulnerable to the virus, districts need a virtual program.

“We will learn and we will adjust,” he also said, adding that state waivers of some education rules and laws are already being put in place to reduce barriers to virtual schools or schools that blend virtual and face-to-face instruction.

“That’s the key: We are going to have to have a school year where we have the maximum amount of flexibility with the intent to have as normal a school year as possible — that gives students the best education as possible.

“They are working very hard on that,” he said of districts.

School system leaders and teachers who have just completed a historically tumultuous school year because of the pandemic are now deep into planning for the upcoming school year.

The calendar may have said “June” and conjured up images of vacations and relaxation, but educators have been in the midst of updating and surveying parents about school options, ordering computer devices, analyzing internet availability, weighing options for scheduling in-school classes, and checking for the latest state guidance on keeping students and staff healthy in the face of the contagious and potentially fatal infection.