Jefferson County schools gear up to reopen
WHITE HALL — About 80% of the 3,000 students in the White Hall School District signed up for in-person instruction.
Having so many students returning to campus creates some challenges, said White Hall School District Superintendent Doug Dorris, but he added that he expects even that number of students to be a manageable situation. He said steps have been implemented to make sure a student who may be infected with the coronavirus doesn’t get on campus undetected.
“Most of our kids going virtual are in high school,” Dorris said. “In the elementary school, we feel like we can do social distancing pretty good.”
Dorris and superintendents across the state face similar challenges for the reopening of schools this week. Almost every school district — such as White Hall — is offering either online education or in-person instruction that could pivot to online instruction if a school has an outbreak of covid-19 and closes temporarily.
The goal is to have continuous instruction and keep both online and in-person instruction on the same pace.
Dorris said that in his district, all students will have their temperatures checked before going into the school buildings and that the upper grades will utilize three lunch shifts and expanded lunch locations while the elementary school students will have six lunch periods, one for each grade. Masks will be provided and required for students in grades 4-12, and all students will be provided with face shields as well, he added.
“Even those students in kindergarten through third grade, who aren’t required to wear masks, will be provided with face shields,” he said. “We’re not requiring them because the Health Department didn’t require them, but they will be provided.”
During a tour of White Hall High School recently, Principal Nathan Sullivan pointed out markers dividing the hallways for foot traffic, restricting people to the right-hand side of the hallway in each direction; markers for one-way hallways leading to stairwells for students going up to the second floor or down to the first floor; and social-distancing markers for students standing in line.
“Everybody’s on the right just like driving a car,” Sullivan said. “We’ve also encouraged our teachers during [professional development] this week to think of creative ways to dismiss … to kind of stagger them … so that when the bell rings we won’t have all of them in the hallway at once.”
For sanitizing purposes, Sullivan said, all classrooms will be equipped with disinfectant spray and wipes and that twice each day — morning and evening — each classroom will be sprayed down with a high-volume electrostatic fogging machine.
“This thing will send a spray out 50 feet in the air,” Sullivan said, showing one of the units, which looks similar to a cross between a garden sprayer and a leaf blower. “We can disinfect large areas quickly with these.”
Sullivan said he believes the measures being undertaken by the district are consistent with the precautions that should be taken to keep the coronavirus pandemic from continuing to worsen once school has begun. He said he also has a personal stake in keeping the students safe.
“I’m not only the principal but I have a child here, so I’m personally invested in keeping the school safe for students,” he said. “Our staff has worked tirelessly, not just putting lines on the floor, but we’ve got cases and cases of disinfectants and wipes and spray, and we’ve spent the past week pulling things out of our classrooms; desks and bookshelves and things have been pulled out to make more space.”
In addition, Sullivan said, he has plenty of staff members to enforce social distancing requirements inside the building.
“I’ve got 55 teachers as well as three [teacher aides] who will be stationed outside the classrooms,” he said. “I’ve also got the luxury of two school resource officers, and that is a big-time help.”
TEACHERS PREPARE
Heather Rogers, who teaches Spanish, was preparing her classroom recently, trying to configure 26 desks in the room to accommodate as much social distancing as possible.
“This is the spacing I’m going to use so far, as long as I don’t get any more,” she said. “This is 26 right here, which is my largest class. I have one with seven, one with 11, and two with 26.”
Rogers said all students would be required to wear masks while inside the classroom.
“It’s going to be a challenge for a language class,” she said with a laugh, then grew serious as she added: “I don’t anticipate any problems with compliance. Every student I’ve seen come into the building has been wearing a mask so far. They seem to be taking it seriously.”
Geometry teacher Jodi McNulty was also configuring her classroom, and she said her classes so far appeared to be ranging from 12 students to 24.
“I think this should be enough distance,” she said as she surveyed the room. “I mean, you look at the desks and they clearly are not 6 feet apart, but when you consider how the students will be sitting, their heads will have about 6 feet of distance between them. Plus they’ll be masked.”
Sydney Foster, a senior at White Hall High School, said she plans to attend school on campus and that she is comfortable with the precautions being taken.
“I feel like everyone does their part. I think the disease targets irresponsibility,” Foster said. “I feel like if you wear your mask, you social-distance, it’s a fair price to pay to be able to come back to school, to have that social interaction and to have our teachers teach us.”
WATSON CHAPEL
In the Watson Chapel School District, Superintendent Jerry Guess said the ratio of students opting for virtual instruction versus on-campus instruction is about 50/50 in the 2,200-student district. Guess said the district has had meetings to give teachers the opportunity to air any concerns they may have about going back into the classroom this year, adding that it has tried to configure its virtual teaching staff to consider individual technology abilities as well as possible health concerns.
“We do have a staff that has some health concerns,” he said. “I mean, look, I’m 69, chief. I don’t know if we’ve got anybody who’s older than I am. We do have some teachers who have said they are older and in a high-risk category who will have some health complications if they come down with this, and we’ve tried to honor that.”
In getting students and parents ready for virtual learning, Guess said, three days of public meetings were held in the district, Chromebooks were handed out, technology agreements were signed, and descriptions of the virtual learning program were reviewed and signed.
“We did the best we could to orient them to what a virtual learning environment was going to be like,” he said. “And we continue to do that. We continue to get parents who are opting for virtual versus on-site learning for their children.”
Guess said recently that the school district had done four days of professional development that week to help prepare both on-site and virtual-learning teachers, with more to come.
“We’ve got a district meeting [Aug. 17] followed by four more days of getting ready for school,” he said. “We’re ready. I think we’re as ready as anyone can possibly be.”
Guess said he anticipates a good year for the district, for which he said he credits the teaching staff.
“Look, I’m not stupid and I’m not trying to be brave. I’m 69, and I do not want to get this stuff,” he said. “But it is an honor to be here with these people and to see the enthusiasm they have for the upcoming year.”
OTHER DISTRICTS
The other two districts in Jefferson County — the Pine Bluff School District and Dollarway School District — are under state control. Both districts are overseen by Superintendent Barbara Warren.
According to an overview of plans for a return to on-site instruction from the Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education, less than half of the students in the two school districts have indicated they will attend classes in person.
Based on a survey in the Pine Bluff School District, 1,832 students — 70% of the student population — said they would be attending virtual classes, and 781 students — 30% of the student population — said that they would attend classes on campus. The overview noted that the 2,613 responses to the survey constitute 90% of the student population and that the school district would continue trying to contact the remaining 10%.
In the Dollarway School District, 664 students — 65% of the student population — said they would be attending virtual classes, and 361 students — 35% of the student population — said that they would attend classes on campus, according to a survey. The Dollarway School District had reported a 100% response rate to the survey.
The overview said students and teachers involved in virtual classes will receive Chromebooks and Wi-Fi access points, and school buses will be equipped as hot spots. All grade levels will use digital content from Edgenuity, a provider of online learning solutions for grades K-12.
It said that for on-campus students and staff members, disposable and cloth masks have been ordered. All students will be screened using touchless thermometers each day, and other personal protective equipment — including gloves, face shields, sanitizing wipes and hand sanitizer — has been ordered.
For student support, the overview said that meals will be provided for virtual-learning students if needed, that all virtual-learning students will have daily access to an on-site teacher, and that on-site opportunities will be provided for virtual-learning students to receive services.