SPRINGDALE, Ark. — In the midst of a pandemic, local schools are trying to figure out plans for teachers and students to return to the classroom in two months. So far Bentonville is the only school to release a procedure for an on-campus return.
5NEWS spoke with officials from the Springdale School District about what they are doing to make the best choices to move forward.
“There is so much apprehension because there are so many unknowns and that’s on all aspects,” Dalene Paul said.
Paul has two kids in the Springdale School District. She says her concern is not only the safety of her kids but also the teachers and faculty at the schools.
“Central is roughly a thousand kids. How do you put that many people in a building safely and how do you continue working through the academic aspects of it when people are constantly concerned both teachers, kids and parents with the health aspects,” she said.
The Springdale School District, like many other districts, has put together a committee to discuss how to safely learn from the classroom as Arkansas continues to see a spike in COVID-19 cases.
The district asked more than 70 community members to be part of this committee, which is meeting for the first time on Thursday (June 18).
“We have to work out a plan where we make sure our kids, it’s the whole child, not just the academic child," said Springdale Public Schools communications director Rick Schaeffer. "So how can we make sure they are taken care of emotionally, socially, physically with phys ed and make sure they get proper nutrition as well."
Schaeffer says they plan to extend the virtual classes at Don Tyson School of Innovation so that kindergarten through 12th grade can be done virtually. He said this is so parents who don’t want to or can’t send their kids back in the fall can still get a Springdale education.
As for students wearing masks, Schaeffer says they plan to go by the Arkansas Department of Education guidelines which haven’t been released yet.
“The district would provide the hand sanitizer, the extra cleaning products," Schaeffer said. "We fully recognize that every classroom is going to have to be equipped with that and so we are prepared for that. We are prepared to provide masks if that is going to be necessary."
He says there will be a lot of professional development for teachers before August 13th, that way they are prepared for any scenario that may arise during the upcoming school year.
5NEWS reached out to other school districts about their plans for the fall—Fayetteville says they will release plans later this week. Fort Smith says they will release theirs in the next two weeks. Van Buren, Pea Ridge and Prairie Grove all say they are all still in the early planning stages.