Schools Look To 2020-21 Academic Year

Like school districts across the state, Prairie Grove, Lincoln and Farmington are making plans and deciding what school will look like in their districts in 2020-21 during the midst of the covid-19 pandemic.

The Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education held an online webinar June 4 for school administrators on what it calls its Arkansas Ready for Learning guide for the new school year.

The division told districts to prepare an education program for the coming school year that relies on face-to-face and online instruction with the flexibility to blend them and to pivot from one to the other.

Johnny Key, Arkansas Education secretary, said there will be three key indicators for success: blended learning, guaranteed and viable curriculum and a student-focused approach.

Key emphasized planning for the new school year will be done at the local level and school may look a

little different at each building to meet the needs of students in those grades.

Ivy Pieffer, the state’s deputy education commissioner, told administrators the model of learning must ensure new content is taught and teachers and students stay connected.

“It will be a system of blended learning, technology based and face-toface approaches,” Pieffer said. “Arkansas Ready for Learning is about flexibility, whether it’s on site or off site. We’re doing this for our students because our students can learn anytime, anywhere if given the right supports.”

Pieffer said the education department wants to provide the right tools for local school districts so they can design the right plan for the students in their districts.

prairie Grove ‘ahead of Game’

Pete Joenks, assistant superintendent of Prairie Grove schools, said Prairie

Grove was a

“little ahead of the game” when the education department announced that all districts should create a Ready for Learning steering committee.

“We anticipated what the department of education was going to ask us and already had put together a steering committee of different leaders,” Joenks said last week. “We’re about two weeks into those committees working together through the different aspects of school reopening and being prepared.”

Each person on the steering committee is chairing a subcommittee of a specific area, such as food service, transportation, health and safety protocols, curriculum and technology. Each school also has its own committee working on a plan for that building.

Prairie Grove surveyed its parents May 21-25, before the recent spike of covid-19 cases in Northwest Arkansas, and asked their thoughts about returning to school given the current situation of the covid-19 pandemic.

The district received 550 responses to the survey. At that time, about two-thirds of the parents were comfortable with on-campus learning and one- third of the parents preferred learning at home.

Joenks said the district is working on a plan that meets the needs of students whether they are attending class in person or virtually. He said the district wants to be “respectful and equitable” to those students who choose to stay home and want a learning system that is sustainable if schools are closed again because of the new coronavirus.

He said his goal is to let parents and teachers know as soon as possible what guidelines and restrictions will be in place at the school buildings so decisions can be made.

“We want it to be as right as possible,” Joenks said. “People want to know and I don’t blame them. Parents are making plans and teachers are making plans. But we have to be careful and be flexible.”

He said his personal goal is to have a plan ready by the end of the month.

For in-school education, Joenks said the district will take all precautions that are outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The district’s nurses and counselors are serving on the subcommittee for protocols for health and safety.

Joenks heads the curriculum and instruction subcommittee and one decision the district has to make is selecting a learning management system. The state has worked out an agreement with a system called Link and Learning for school districts to use as a resource for teachers and students.

Prairie Grove can opt into this system or it can look for another learning management system.

“We’re looking at the pros and cons of different options and what’s best for our teachers and students and is cost effective,” Joenks said.

For the first year, Link and Learning is free to all districts. Joenks said schools do not know about costs after the first year. Currently, Prairie Grove teachers use Google Classroom as their online system.

The challenge for schools, Joenks noted, is that “we’re trying to predict what’s going to happen in the future. The challenge is to come up with a plan that’s stable enough to adjust and fluid enough to change if we need to change. To say we have a cut and dry plan now would be premature.”

Lincoln working on ‘Solid’ plan

Mary Ann Spears, superintendent of Lincoln Consolidated School District, said the district hopes to have a “good, solid plan” in place by July 1 for district teachers and staff, parents and students.

The district’s Ready to Learn

Committee, which has representatives from all areas, has been meeting to discuss the new school year. Spears said the district has created a Google document and all those involved are adding information to the document.

“They’ve told us to be ready to pivot, which means if something comes up, be able to pivot to online school for all students,” Spears said. “The challenge for us is that many of our parents travel into Northwest Arkansas to work. It’s possible if we get a case amongst us, with 1,100 kids, we probably would have to shut the whole thing down.”

Spears added, “We’re going to roll with it and have a plan.”

Parents will have the option of deciding to keep their children at home for virtual school or coming to the building. Lincoln is asking parents to choose home or school for at least a quarter at a time, or nine weeks, and then make a decision for the next nineweek period.

At the elementary school, children will stay in the same room and teachers will rotate and come to them. Spears said staff are still working on how classes will look at the middle school and high school.

Health guidelines will be in place at the schools. Spears said the district is waiting on more guidelines for safety precautions but she knows masks will be required as well as physical distancing when possible.

For virtual school, the biggest obstacle in Lincoln is online connectivity with children, Spears said. Lincoln has 150 square miles with mountains and hills.

“We’re going to have to drill down to every kid to find out if they can connect online with the school,” she said.

Beginning around July 15, school staff will start calling each parent to ask them if their child will stay home for online learning or go to school and then check on their ability to connect to the internet.

“We’ll make a connection with every parent to get exactly what their choice will be,” Spears said. At the same time, though, she noted the school will be flexible.

“They could change the day before and we’re going to roll with it,” she said.

Lincoln Middle School and Lincoln High use a learning management system called Summit Learning. This will continue next year and be a good solution, Spears said, for in- person classes and virtual learning.

Elementary Principal Traci Birkes is looking for a learning management system for the elementary school.

Farmington ‘actively planning’

Stephanie Pinkerton, assistant superintendent with Farmington schools, said the district is “actively planning” for the next school year.

“We plan to have school following the ADH guidance to keep students and staff safe,” Pinkerton said by email. “Farmington will be a part of the ADE’s Ready for Learning Initiative including blended and virtual learning.”

Pinkerson said the district’s leadership team is attending department of education Zoom webinars for more information and guidelines for planning the year.

The district posted a reentry survey for parents this week and ask that one person from each family fill out the survey.

The survey explains that for on-site learning, students will attend school five days a week. In the event of another school closure, new grade level content would continue through virtual learning.

For off- site learning, students would attend school virtually through Farmington. Students would receive new content with expected engagement. Grades would be taken, according to the survey summary.

Parents are asked to submit their completed survey by July 3.

Pinkerton said school officials will look at the survey data to determine parent and student needs for the new year.

“As we maneuver this ever changing environment, we will build our Ready for Learning Plan around safety and learning,” Pinkerton said.

Joenks

Spears

Pinkerton