Governor Cancels In-Person Classes Through End Of The School Year

There will be no getting back to normal in this unprecedented 2019- 20 Arkansas school year.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Monday directed that the state’s public school buildings remain closed for the rest of this school year — until near the end of May — to more than 479,000 students in prekindergarten through 12th grade.

Until the school year’s end, however, students and teachers are to continue to do schoolwork at their homes using a mix of online, televised and paper lessons from a variety of sources to reinforce core academic lessons taught before school buildings were closed last month.

Hutchinson, accompanied by state Education Secretary Johnny Key, made the announcement at the governor’s daily news conference in which he provides updates on statewide efforts to slow the spread of covid-19.

“While we are having some success in slowing the spread, it is clear that this is still going to go on for some time,” Hutchinson said. “As a result of it, we are going to have to continue with our mitigation efforts in this state,” including the ongoing closure of school buildings to on-site instruction through the end of the school year.

The original plan called for schools to reopen March 30 after spring break, but that was extended to April 20.

“I know this is a hardship, but I think teachers, parents, everyone is prepared for this,” Hutchinson said Monday. He praised teachers and students “for hanging in there and not giving up on this school year and recognizing that education has to continue even during this time of a virus.”

Arkansas school systems started the school closure period by providing teacher- developed alternative methods of instruction — or AMI — lessons to their students. More recently, the state has offered as an option, or as a supplement, some lessons for kindergarten through eighth grade on public television — Arkansas PBS. For older students, lesson options are available through Virtual Arkansas and the nonprofit Arkansas Public School Resource Center.

Key said Arkansas PBS lessons, developed in conjunction with the Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education, will be extended by two weeks, to May 1.

That gives school districts a few weeks to develop lesson plans for their elementary and middle school pupils, he said. Virtual Arkansas and the Arkansas Public School Resource Center courses can continue through the remainder of the year.

Most of the school districts have indicated that they can continue with instruction through the end of the year. The state’s 15 education service cooperatives and the state education agency are available to help school systems that will otherwise struggle to finish the instructional school year, he said.

Key urged educators and parents to be flexible about the at-home learning conditions.

“Our schools and educators should set reasonable expectations for [student] time on tasks when they are developing AMI plans. It is impractical to try to replicate the school experience when children are at home,” he said. “We need to help students and parents establish flexible schedules for learning that consider that they may need access to learning supports outside the typical 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. school day schedule.”

The focus of instruction in the coming days and weeks should be on the core content areas of math, literacy, science and social studies, Key said. Subjects such as art, music and physical education should be blended into the core subject areas “to create fun learning activities for our students,” he said.

Special education teachers, gifted-and-talented teachers, English- as- a- second- language teachers, and content specialists in schools and districts should collaborate with general education teachers to help students who have been identified as needing those services, he said.

“We do urge caution with respect to introducing new content,” Key continued, “as it is likely to have limited effectiveness in our current circumstances. Instead, we suggest focusing on the essential standards that have been taught up to the point of the school closure. Reviewing existing student data to determine where students need support and emphasizing mastery of that content should also be the focus.”

Teachers will particularly need to align lessons to the requirements of the individualized education plans for students who are in special education programs, but services such as occupational and physical therapy may have to be delayed until school buildings can reopen, he said.

Key asked that districts and schools set times during which teachers can be accessible in a number of ways to answer questions from parents and students.

“Be flexible,” he again encouraged, noting that the stresses on families created by the covid-19 pandemic will have an effect on students. “This is a time for more emphasis on support and learning and less emphasis on compliance.”

Key also said high school seniors will graduate. Those students who were in good standing as of the end of the third nine-week grading period last month have met state requirements for graduation. But local requirements for those students are still in effect, and seniors are expected to continue their work, in particular in Advanced Placement and career technical courses. As for graduation ceremonies, he said, some districts are making plans for virtual and traditional ceremonies, but the traditional ceremonies will hinge on Arkansas Department of Health guidance that currently prohibits gatherings of 10 or more people.