Plans in place to start school in Aug.

PRESCOTT – School in Prescott is scheduled to start in mid-August.

At least these are the plans at this time and they could change depending on what happens with the coronavirus.

The Prescott School Board, at its June meeting Tuesday night, was informed the district is planning to open school as usual, but with some options to the traditional educational system.

Shannon Henderson, presented the board with the district’s “Ready for Learning” plan, a new system mandated by the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE). This plan, she said, has to be in place and approved this year. A committee was formed and met weekly to discuss how to have school for the 2020-21 academic year. She said new assessments will be used this year with more detailed information. The goal is to hit the ground running, find out how far students are behind and get them caught up as quickly as possible so they can move forward.

There will be three options as to how students are taught. The first is the traditional method with children attending classes in a school building. Parents will be asked to screen their children before sending them to school and make sure they don’t have a temperature. Face coverings will also be required and there will be no self-service for meals. In fact, breakfasts will be served in the classrooms. Desks will be spread as far apart as possible as well.

The second option deals with remote/virtual learning. Under this plan students will be provided with computers, if needed, and lessons will be sent home via USB drives and flash memory cards and done online. Meals will be packaged and sent home or delivered by the district.

The third option is a blended approach of the first two. Under this plan, school would start normally with the district prepared for students to learn at home. If social distancing is required, students will alternate going to school two days a week and doing remote learning the other three. One group would attend school Monday and Wednesday, while the other attends on Tuesday and Thursday. Teachers will also prepare video lessons and have “homework” for students to do.

One of the problems with this, Henderson said, is Prescott doesn’t have an internet system good enough to allow the district to do full programs online.

Robert Poole, superintendent, said the district will need to provide for education without internet access by using USB and flash drives to make things simpler. He added textbooks will be used in some instances.

“This will be a lot of work for teachers,” Henderson said of the planning and production of the videos. Teachers will be trained how to deliver instructions via blended learning, she added.

The ADE has a program called “Playbook” which offers a lot of resources the district could use. It includes templates for lessons to help students get caught up. Children from K-3 will use tablets provided by the district, while the rest will use chromebooks. Teachers will be getting new laptops to help make this work.

She told the board the district will continue working on standards, especially in the areas of literacy and math, with intervention times for these classes built in to the school day. Students in K-5 will use Open Court reading, while those in grades 6-12 will use what’s best suited for their needs. The state, she added requires schools to use the “Science of Reading” program and all teachers must be certified in it by the end of the 2021 school year. Additionally, the district will continue working with and improving its Professional Learning Community to get test scores up. The board approved the plan.

To help make the plan a reality, the board also approved spending CARES Act funds to buy the necessary equipment. The district will purchase 300 tablets for $48,946.50; 80 laptops for $69,865.38; 400 chromebooks and licenses for $107,200.50; and 1600 USB drives and 400 flash memory cards for $45,990.

The district received around $293,000 in CARES Act money. This will take $272,002.38. The remaining funds will be used for items such as masks, hand sanitizer and cleaning supplies,

The panel also approved a COVID-19 resolution which allows districts to waive policies that are in place, but may conflict with social distancing practices. The resolution, Poole said, gives the district more flexibility so it can provide the best practices in a safer environment. Policies can be suspended if they don’t comply with the resolution and the resolution will remain in place until the governor declares the emergency over.

Classified salaries were approved for the 2020-21 school year, and Poole said the district is in good shape financially, but has no idea what enrollment will be. However, he told the board those students who choose to stay home and do remote/virtual learning can be counted by the district.