DECATUR, Ark. — Students and teachers in Decatur returned to school Tuesday, Aug. 13, beginning a year that’s bringing change for many reasons.
This was the first time the student body was together since the Memorial Day weekend storms, which impacted many families in the community.
Superintendent Steve Watkins said the district has been helping with storm recovery and outreach throughout the summer.
“All summer, we've been giving personal items, shampoo, toothpaste, different things like that, water, shelf, stable food, and we've had student volunteers delivering that to the families, and they were able to come up here and pick that up as well,” Watkins said.
As students return to campus, Watkins said he expects there to be more needs brought to the district’s attention.
“One of the things that is often overlooked with this is the social-emotional side of things, and [this was] very traumatic for our students that were impacted,” Watkins said. “We don't want to forget that. We will have our counselors available as well as a social worker here that will be housed at Decatur full time now to address those needs.”
Another change for students and faculty this year is the learning schedule. Decatur is switching to a 4-day week, with classroom instruction Tuesday through Friday.
On Monday, the district will offer a ‘Smart Monday’ option for parents from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Decatur Northside Elementary School. Students who participate will be served breakfast and lunch, and several teachers will be there to help students who are behind on their work, need extra help, or want to participate in enrichment activities.
Decatur joins several other school districts in the area in trying out the four-day week to improve teacher recruitment and retention and give students more educational opportunities.
Watkins said he believes he is already seeing a positive impact when it comes to teacher recruitment and retention.
“Traditionally, we replace about 40% of our staff every year,” Watkins said. “This year, we've only replaced about 10% of our staff, which has made a tremendous difference as we're coming back.”
Amid the excitement of the new school year, storm recovery is still top of mind.
“The cleanup is not over within Decatur and won't be for the foreseeable future,” Watkins said.
He added that it will simply take time for the community to recover from the storms, and this year, the district will do all it can to help.
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