Support for Arkansas week provided by the Arkansas Democrat Gazette.

The Arkansas times and Kuer FM 89.

And thank you for joining us in a special addition of Arkansas week special for more reasons than one.

Obviously this broadcast is being brought to you through.

The technological wizardry of the Arkansas PBS production staff.

We're social distancing, if not editorially so.

There are many reasons for a program of this sort.

Public health, of course, is an enormous issue.

So is the public economy.

But so is public education to include higher education.

And there are so very many questions to ask and be answered in a time that Arkansas has rarely seen the locks up before.

So with that we are joined for this hour addition of Arkansas week, my Arkansas Education Secretary Johnny Key.

And by Stacy Smith, who was the assistant commissioner?

Of the Department of Education for elementary and secondary and Doctor Maria Markham is director of the division of higher education.

For Arkansas, and we thank all three of our guests for being with us.

Secretary Key.

Let me begin with you.

We have, I think, including public and private schools, something just a bit South of 1/2 million elementary and secondary students.

In Arkansas now recognizing that you're primarily responsible for, I think about 470,000 or so that are in public K12.

Where does the situation stand now?

There's not going to be school as we know it for the rest of the year.

Yeah, that's right Steve.

It was a tough call, but it was a necessary call when consulting with doctor Smith's secretary of Health and with the governor.

And looking at the.

Projections in the models for the code that 19 outbreak that we're having Arkansas.

We originally had closed school to on site instruction through April 17th, with the hope that we could start back on April 20th.

But as the numbers kept coming in as the projections, although they are looking better, they are still at a state where we felt like for the interest of public health.

It was the right call.

To close school for on site instruction for the rest of the school year.

Now, that doesn't mean school is closed.

That means we have shifted and I would just have to say the remarkable response from our educators around the state.

From our administrators to shift from a traditional classroom delivery to a very nontraditional, either technology based or through printed.

Printed packets, am I packets?

Arkansas was definitely better prepared than a lot of states because we have for several years now had am I alternative methods of instruction on the books in state law that are usually reserved for short-term conditions, weather situations, or shorter outbreaks of illness on a more localized basis.

But because of that experience?

We've been able to shift, so now the 470,000 students in Arkansas and in some way continue educational opportunity for this school year.

How?

How much a secretary have you?

You said the response thus far has been gratifying, or indicated that it's been gratifying.

How do you measure that?

Well, just the level of response in in our conversations with Super Tenants and educators.

I mean it's it's not perfect, it's messy.

It's I said that when we first roll this out that it would be messy.

Because it's so outside the norm, and when you have something of this disruption of this magnitude, you can expect it to be perfect, but the feedback that we have received by and large has been a look.

We're making this happen.

The teachers are teaming together there, working locally and with other teachers in their region to create opportunities for lessons.

We've seen an increase in digital platforms.

For those areas that that that is.

Yeah, they have the capacity for that.

So it's, uh, it's gratifying in the sense that Arkansas did not have to shut down school like some states did.

Some states have just said, look, we can't continue delivering education in any way.

We know that it will have its challenges, but what's gratifying is that our teachers have said look, we're going to roll up our sleeves and make this work.

Stacy Smith with direct hands-on on K12 or weed, is the state at this point.

Equipped to continue this through, what would have been the end of the of the traditional semester?

Or are we going to have to have additional resources brought in?

So you know it depends on where you are in the state, the resources that they have, but we have.

I mean, we've had tremendous response from our superintendents who said we have the capacity to do this, and that really greatly influence the decision that was made about continuing schools.

Local school district feel like they have the capacity now as far as resources, you know the state has been providing resources directly to schools through our PBS partnership.

We've also provided on line resources for school districts, but each school district is unique and they have to determine whether it's the capacity of their.

Community other students of their faculty and they have to make decisions based in their local community and what and what their folks need.

It it might do Stacy Smith to take just a moment and explain to parents.

What are we talking about in terms of capacity and in terms of resources?

So first districts you have a lot of districts in the state who decided to go towards a digital platform.

So a community has to determine one.

Do they have access?

Do they have devices?

Do students had the ability and parents and families have Internet access at their homes?

You've seen local school district set up Wi-Fi parking lots.

You seen churches getting involved?

You've seen school districts actually have pass out Chrome book Day where parents are driving through an schools are handing out I'm devices.

You have some school districts where they don't have one to one devices and so that's not an option.

For them, and they then have to look at what is the capacity that we had to deliver instructions, and you see those districts using paper packets.

You see those districts using phone calls face to FaceTime.

It's different from district to district in each district has to look at and determine what can their students and families kind of handle.

During this time.

Our goal with am I is that students are maintaining and that school districts are focusing on the essential standards or essential skills that their students need to have.

Google different, but the obviously Secretary Kiana Smith.

It was.

It is not your primary responsibility by any stretch, or wasn't.

Anyway, we're talking about information tech.

Any expansion of broadband, particularly into rural Arkansas.

This would this crisis.

If you want to call it across, would appear to underscore.

The necessity of getting a wireless or in broadband services end of those portions of the state.

In which it still lagging.

Now you're absolutely yes.

So you're right Steven back.

Just in December of 19, the Committee on legislative committees issued a report on the status of broadband in the state of Arkansas, and it definitely continues to be a gap in certain parts of the state.

Are just a patchwork of providers out there and there is not the infrastructure just isn't there at the moment that I know that the governor's broadband task forces is working on what the plan is.

But now we see in a situation like this, not just from an education standpoint but from rural health care, telemedicine and some of those things that we have heard talked about in the last few weeks with respect to the COVID-19.

Health crisis it does underscore the need it, something that I know.

Legislative delegation or congressional delegation is aware of so they're helping where they can at the federal level.

But we will say that we are better than we were five years ago, and the reason I say that is because up until five years ago, not even all of our districts had the capacity that they now have a display.

Rob and into the school and onto the campus.

The fact that we now have those resources, at least to the campus level, has helped our schools be better prepared.

Now to face something like this, anastasie mentioned having your Wi-Fi turned on so that folks can access it in the parking lot, so something that just a couple of years ago would not have even been an option.

We're better than we were were not as good as we need to be, so we need to keep working on it.

Let me go to Maria Markham now on the higher Ed side.

If I if I can or Stacy Smith did you want to add something to that before I go to Maria mark?

I just want like a comment that you know schools are encouraged to do asynchronous learning as well as synchronous and what I mean by that is pre recorded and where students can drive into the parking lot and upload on their device and go home and work offline and so that option is available for a lot of our communities where broadband is not as accessible.

Maria Markham we have a state cover peppered with.

Two and four year campuses that resembled ghost cities now and on top of that we have an economy that is very much in question, casting additional doubt on.

The fiscal stability of higher end in Arkansas.

Can you give us an opening kind of assessment?

We anticipate a mixed year of a lot of challenges and opportunities in Higher Education where you were nervous about what revenues will do because those are always tide so closely to the funding of higher education institutions.

So if this pandemic persists for much longer than we will see negative impacts on state funding for higher Ed, the flip side of that we have to look at enrollment.

And What is this going to do to our student population?

We uhm most states that are being impacted or projecting enrollment declines in the fall.

Based on what we've seen here, much of that will depend on how quickly we bounce back.

We know that in times of higher unemployment that our two year colleges actually see in increasing enrollment.

Students coming back who are displaced and need to Upskill to be able to move into positions that will allow them to be employed in the knowledge economy.

So there's a possibility of positive enrollment growth at our two year colleges, but it does depend.

It depends on how long this persist, just how far revenues dip in the state.

And unfortunately, when revenues fallen in higher education institutions fall in their state funding, we see tuitions increase.

So the cost for students could be absorbing some of those losses that we see as a state.

So we have a lot of challenges.

But there are some possible opportunities for institutions to be able to reach these students have been displaced through unemployment.

Let's go to some questions that have been submitted by viewers and here's one secretary kid at really at the top of the list.

How are we going to you?

You acknowledge that again, in a press conference earlier this week with us at the at the governor's office.

This is going to be, in a sense, an incomplete semester.

Nobody's killing anybody you cannot off site compensate before what youngsters K12 or even higher would have had the opportunity to absorb had on site education continued.

How much is going to?

How much of these?

Students going to Miss Yeah.

Well, and that's going to vary greatly from district to district.

The what we are encouraging schools to focus on right now be cause you cannot replicate the classroom experience with that teacher in that classroom.

Helping those students is to reinforce some of those skills, drive for mastery, and some of those skills that had already been covered up until the time that we close school for onside instruction.

Uh, so you know some students may who have already mastered that they may think, well, this is review of things we've already covered.

Other students are going to benefit and be better prepared with some of those essential skills.

If they gain mastery of those so.

But now that we have the certainty of saying will continue the school year with am I delivery.

Now we can start planning for how we transition into next school year.

There are still many, many, many unknowns right now.

Oh I'm sorry, yeah.

Well we we just need to start thinking about how do we recover?

Not the last time, but we need to recover the Los Learning and identifying what those elements are that we need to focus on as we move into the next school year.

Any any thought whatsoever secretary key or Miss Smith in regards to beginning.

Let's assume for a second that the pandemic is subsides or.

Prayerfully, even as conquer any thought, given it all to starting the fall semester early.

I think all the options need to be on the table.

Steve, I think that's a conversation that we will need to have with schools there.

There are a lot of.

Legal elements, things that are in statute that control when the school year can start.

There are contractual issues with teachers and staff that have to be considered as well.

So many most, I think probably all of our districts right now have already set their calendars for the next school year, which becomes part of their personnel policy.

And if we make any changes there, we're going to have to look to see how we can be consistent across the state.

If we start to school, you're early.

What does that mean for students?

Or will they be required under compulsory attendance to come early?

I mean, those are all types of questions that we have to.

And have started analyzing to try to come up with something that makes sense.

Yes, this is worth it.

Sound from Secretary Keys there.

It sounds like it's just.

Hey, put it mildly, a thorny problem issue of starting the fall semester early.

You know, again, we've had some some districts or some superintendents say, you know, this is time to re look at our calendars.

We've heard others say we've got to look at summer programs.

We heard others say we need to focus on our students who we know kind of fell through the cracks during this time.

So again, you're going to see this done a little bit differently in each community, but the number of days and time does not necessarily equal the amount of time someone needs for learning.

You have some schools in something, not schools, but you have some students.

You always require more than the traditional year, and they need intensive intervention or services beyond the regular school year and you have some students who their accelerated an their advanced and they're using the time to continue to move forward in their learning, so it's time for schools and parents and communities.

Just start thinking about how do we address the needs of our learners.

What is it we want our students to know and to be able to do and focus on those skills and the students who are not at that level?

We need to?

Schools need to work to come up with an intervention plan about how they're going to fill those holes, and it can be done in many different ways.

But you're going to see I think, some some summer programs or boost programs, schools who maybe start early and bring in students that need that extra boost so that they can be successful moving into another year.

But you know, for us too.

We lost about 1/4 of the school year last nine weeks.

Um so, So what does that mean for our kids?

Well, it means that for some kids it's it's going to be devastating and we're going to have a lot of work to roll our sleeves up and make sure and feel that because we already see that we have a summer Los and we've extended that summer lost by 6 to 7 weeks.

That's why it's so important in Arkansas that we are doing the AMA days and that we are encouraging schools and parents and communities to continue to read, continue to write, continue to communicate with their students, continue to.

To problem solving and reasoning skills, it's important to be able to do those things and be able to maintain.

It it sounds Miss Smith as though that first fall semester, assuming everyone is back on campus.

But then it's going to be a fairly muscular regiment that our K12 students are certainly in the higher grades or or maybe K12 here are going to be facing.

Thanks.

I think that it will be faster.

But you know what I think sometimes we underestimate our families and we underestimate our students and we underestimate our teachers.

Um?

You know when we set the bar low in our expectations are low, then we got a longer way to climb.

I save that we continue to set the standards of what we expect our students to know and be able to do.

And we figure out how to reach it.

Is that hard work?

Teaching is the hard work every single day and we've got teachers who are working around the Clock right now.

Even during am I to make sure that their students are receiving some type of instruction.

But I don't think we lower the bar.

I think we keep it where it's at an we figure out how we feel.

The fill the whole or fill it.

Fill the void.

OK, let me go to Maria Markham for this and then back to Miss Smith or secretary key.

It is entirely plausible even to a layman that for example British lit or English composition can be readily taught.

I say readily can be taught far more easily online.

Then say physics or biology or or one of any of the lab disciplines, is that what's going to be missing on this phon?

This this last nine weeks?

Well, you're, I mean, you're absolutely correct.

Stave we've been teaching online, and her it for a long time, and we're actually really well versed in that in Arkansas.

We've had robust distance learning program in our state for years, so there are certain subjects and certain faculty members who are.

Well prepared to move their content online if it wasn't already there.

There are much like Stacey mentioned it's going to be uneven because there are other subjects that don't lend themselves well with hands-on learning or just the.

The content of the course to be on line.

It can be done and it can be done well, but having faculty members who have that background, it's not going to be the same at every institution.

What we're seeing now?

Um, institutions are using.

Innovative measures to get this content to students.

They're bringing students in and small groups.

Three or four learners at a time into a lab there observing, social distancing and really fastidious sanitation practices to get students into the biology lab to get students into the welding lab and make sure that their students are receiving the learning that they signed up to get, you know, in college were terminal you may not have another semester to master an outcome.

So it's our responsibility to make sure that students receive what they paid for and they get to their outcomes in a timely manner.

So you're absolutely correct, some things are are a natural progression of what we're already doing, and some things have moved us out of our comfort zone.

I mean, we're going to be very innovative, and how we get students to that learning.

Stacy Smith.

Same same question to you at the high school level, are we still, by the way to dissecting frogs in biology?

Or, well, you know.

Yes, so you still have that, but but I'll tell you that my daughter in college did a biology lab one or anatomy lab and.

She had some.

She was doing some dissecting on my kitchen table, so I think that digital learning has changed an one of the areas that we have to work on with our faculty in our staff right now is they're having to adjust and there having to learn the platform so that they can deliver quality digital options and this probably right now if I had to say there was an area that we need to be working on with our educators in the States and districts need to be giving their educators time to collaborate with one another about how are you doing this remote learning?

How are you?

How's this teacher reaching her students versus this teacher?

Know what app are you using Watt platform or you're using because?

It every day?

Uhm, there's something else popping up there that we didn't know about.

And so this this establishing these true professional learning communities where teachers are learning from each other about how to meet the needs of their students through remote learning is essential.

Question for secretary key and then to Secretary Markham.

Mr Key is my numerous questions or this question from numerous students and parents.

Is my under the circumstances.

Is the high school degree.

I will be awarded hopefully this year as valuable as it should be.

An miss Markham is my BA or maybe my MI as valuable as it would have been under conventional circumstances.

Secretary key will start with you.

I think, uh, to diminish the value in any way would be to diminish what these students have done over the body of work that they've done over multiple years.

High school.

The learning in high school is not just what you get in your senior year, it is a compilation, an accumulation of all of those things that you have done even starting in Arkansas, where you start earning credits in before 9th grade.

Uh, so I do not diminish it in any way at all.

Uh, this is a difficult time, and it's especially for our seniors because they're missing out on some of those rights of passage that we are.

Our society is hold so important and so dear, like graduation ceremonies and other types of things that come with the senior year.

But no, it is still of the same value.

We still.

Or making having expectations for the class of 2020 to be out there and use what they're learning and observing during this time in history to shape how they approach their own future.

Maria Markham Yeah, I agree with everything commissioner key mentioned as well as you know, the really this is a badge of Honor for college students to complete.

During this time they're going to be expected to demonstrate the same level of.

Proficiency and knowledge during this time, with all of the added stress of dealing with this pandemic with balancing a shift to the online learning environment along with possible unemployment with children home from school who are helping them every day.

So not only will they receive the same credential that they would have received otherwise, and the same learning outcomes will be met, but they will have done it in a very stress filled environment in a very unprecedented way.

US Secretary Key or perhaps Miss Smith.

This is a question from Willy who.

Email the question in on RP affairs side, those student used to be called student teachers, students, teachers who were in their intern ships but have not the cause of this situation have not been able to complete their one assumes on site and since internship what is there going to be their certification status?

That's a great question, and when we were discussing the issues with higher yet I hope we would get to come back to that.

We know that this interruption is created for our student interns, a just a really uncertain future for them.

We have been working with all of the colleges of education at the institutions around the state to try to find ways to make sure they can complete either through extended time when we.

Maybe do come back or as far as license you're looking at provisional methods for providing them with the license because they we will.

We will consider that they have completed their program.

I know some of the institutions have.

Issues with their own.

Missions and their own governing bodies that they have to work through, but we're trying to provide as much flexibility as we can possibly provide when it comes to the license proportion, so we're going to do our best to make sure none of those students that are in those internship programs hit a roadblock that keeps them from moving on into the classroom setting.

We need them, we don't want them to give up and be frustrated.

We want to get them license.

We want to get them in a classroom.

Stacy Smith.

No, I agree with what what Secretary Key said.

And really, it's working with higher Ed and making sure that those folks are getting what they need.

And then our licensing division providing the provisions necessary to get those folks in the classroom when we do have new teacher candidates first year starting, they do have mentoring programs and there is a lot of support given to those folks.

A question from Alan via Facebook and by the way, this is the same question that has come in from.

Numerous parents, almost innumerable parents.

Given the present dynamic in K12, is there a reliable, accurate measure of how well my student has performed in these last couple of semesters?

Suck Turkey or Miss Smith who are.

To make the most reliable source is the students teacher.

Now we have state testing and we have all these other measures, but those are just one picture of the student on a week, but multiple measures that students take all your long on their grades, their work.

They're interacting in classrooms.

Those are the best indicators of how well a student is doing so.

Local school districts with local educators are the best source for that information.

Factory when I add something to that, yeah, just to say that again.

Thinking of in terms I think we we can't be shortsighted and think only in terms of this time that we've missed 'cause students put in a lot of work up until that point.

So their teachers assess on an ongoing basis and the purpose of those assessments are to evaluate what students, what they've learned.

Have they mastered?

At what extra help do they need?

And really, that's the basis.

That we are asking our scar teachers now as we shift to am I go back to that student data and find out, Diggle deeper to find out what it was that our kids needed some more assistance in the value of a letter grade four student is is not.

But we really need to focus on.

Although it's important, uh, it's the value of what has been learned because we need to understand better now.

If you are missing fractions.

This last part of the school year, the impact of that later when you get into higher level math is going to be critical, so it's less of gauging by letter grade than it is gauging by.

What do we know?

What elements do we know that they need help with?

Get them that help.

And make sure that they are prepared for when they move on.

So I do understand the desire and the need for letter grades when we get back to to a better routine.

And some of those traditional measurements can be put back in place.

I know it'll never get to make us all feel better, but right now it's identifying those supports and those essential standards kids need to extra help with doctor mark.

Have a feeling you anticipated this question, but many, many, many inquiries from.

University students will, I am I entitled to any refund will that be?

Will that decision be made on a campus level or a system basis or at the state level?

Yeah, so all of those decisions are made on a campus level so they're all of our higher Ed institutions or self governing.

They're all in the process of making announcements about how they're going to handle refunds for housing for meal plans.

For things that UM students aren't going to be able to receive.

Some of our institutions are better situated to issue cash refunds, others credit toward future semesters we do.

Anticipate some of our federal stimulus daughter dollars being dedicated to reimbursing students for those lossed investments in housing and food plans so there won't be a state directive.

Those are under the authority of the boards of trustees.

At each campus.

We do anticipate that students will receive some type of credit, whether it be a cash reimbursement or credit toward a future semester for things that they did not receive.

In the spring.

Here is an object we have sort of covered this before, but it is coming in from so many individuals, for example Whitney who phones this or communicates this question by Twitter.

Thank you for your assurances, but how much?

Once again, how much is going to be lossed?

and I guess let's go first to Secretary Kima Smith in terms of of the shutdown of K12 campuses.

How to make that up?

Is it realistic?

Well, in in I think it's realistic.

2.

Do it in terms of identifying me we have.

We have so many standards at each grade level that I think any teacher would tell you you cannot get through all of those standards in the course of a year, even after we.

We revised our standard several years ago away from the Common Core standards to the Arkansas State standards we have now.

We know that those standards are not realistic for getting through completely in a years time.

That's why it's important that each each school identify the essential standards that we work on, helping them identify the essential standards.

So how much is going to be lossed during this time?

Depends really on what the schools have identified in those.

Teacher groups have identified as the essential learning standards that.

That a 4th grader needs to know before they go on to 5th grade.

That's what we have to determine right now and we can look at the standards in the book and we could say, OK, this is what you should have been covering in this last nine weeks.

But the reality is that some some schools have moved beyond that.

Or maybe some schools haven't quite gotten there yet.

So just to give a general answer of how much has been missed.

Really would would mask the reality in a lot of schools, but that's the work that that will be doing to help.

Bridge as we move into the next school year, what those essential standards are.

And Stacy, I know her team have been doing a lot of work on that already.

Alright, Lisbeth, you want to follow up on that?

Have lost some time, but learning hasn't stopped.

And for our students or our teachers, as far as teaching, I mean, that's what this processor am I is about.

It's about continuing to provide some type of instruction for our students so that they are continuing to learn.

So yes, we have lost some face to FaceTime in our buildings in our schools, and we do have some students that that schools are not reaching right now.

And that's a huge concern for the majority of our students in our families and our teachers in the state.

Learning is continuing.

What they are being pressed to do right now is to.

Change house called looks like and what it felt like before spring break.

You know before they had so many periods a day or lessons a day they had face to face contact each day.

It's different now and it looks and feels different and again it goes back to what Commissioner Key said.

We've got to focus on what's essential right now.

Families or or in schools are struggling with trying to determine exactly what that looks like.

Right now, the parent was never intended through.

am I to become richer, replace the teacher, but a lot of them right now are finding themselves doing that.

So schools have to adjust what's being sent.

Home has to be adjusted a little bit, but everyone is still continuing to learn.

And again, I think that we're not setting it.

We're not going to lower the bar for our students, and I think when we return back to school in the fall, you're going to see some very innovative things occuring.

You're going to see a. Innovative things occurring this summer to fill those holes, and I think we're going to march on.

How do you say let me throw in there too if I made the doctor.

Markham mentioned the relief money from Congress and that's we haven't talked about that yet for K12.

But that's an area that we feel like those funds will be available to help us develop plans moving forward so that whatever learning students have missed, we could put something in place using those funds to make up for that Los Learning.

And we want one great thing right now in Arkansas we have not cut funding for education, even with the budget reduction.

That revenue reductions that have come as a result of this.

Before schools are fully funded, and so no teachers have been let go, no staff have been let go.

They had to school.

Officials have tried to find creative ways to make sure that the essential work at the school can continue.

We've had a lot of conversations with secret tenants about that, but as we shift the conversation to that Los Learning, we believe that certainly and under the governor's direction.

For education, we believe that prioritization needs to be given to using some of these funds for that Los learning.

Well, I have to say Secretary use a fully funded but not to the level that has been recommended in some instances.

So are we starting fully funded for the administration's recommendations?

But does that put us?

A bit behind going in that.

Well, when I say fully funded, it's fully funded according to the adequacy recommendations that were passed by the General Assembly and adopted by the General Assembly.

That and those things were reflected in the governor's budget.

So there has been no reduction in funding going to schools.

When I say fully funded for this school year this fiscal year, they're not seeing any reductions in that, and we also just received a waiver from the federal government.

Uh, so that federal dollars you have a time limit that some of the federal dollars can be spent with some of those federal deadlines have now been extended, so you have current federal dollars that can be used typically to help struggling learners.

Then you're going to have this new set of federal dollars coming in again.

Much of that will be to help struggling learners to help fill those gaps.

So I think from a financial standpoint, we are in better shape than some of my.

Colleagues in other states have expressed becausr we because of Revenue Stabilization.

We have been able to find education 1st and have not reduced that.

Oh from RP affairs website.

From Twitter.

From other sources.

Facebook doctor Maria Markham.

What the college entrance process will that be affected at all in terms of the criteria that individual institutions will be seeking and we don't believe so?

All of our admissions processes will remain the same.

Students have been concerned about the AC T in April being moved to June.

But that will still allow students to take the AC T if they have not.

We also have several of our colleges who will be offering a residual.

Icampus base AC T that's all scheduled.

Those students will be able to take the test there and receive the score of the same day.

That can also be used for admissions and Allstate scholarships.

So we don't anticipate any complications with our admission process.

From Megan an email.

P Affairs.

US Secretary Key.

Why not simply?

Why not simply extend the school year?

Well, that certainly is something that could have been looked at.

Again, you have contractual issues with teachers.

Teachers are typically on a 190 day contract, so in the funding that's Tide to that when the districts and the teachers in those those districts they set those calendars ahead of time and so the contractual obligations that are tide to that are things that that can't just simply be waived or simply.

Be extended by the state, so we had to be respectful and mindful of those contractual issues when looking at the calendars.

Now could we could we extend?

Could we do summer school?

Could we do something like that?

That would be not tide to those contracts, sure, but we needed to get some certainty for this school year for the 2019 twenty school year so our districts are families could start planning for how they're going to handle the rest of the school year.

And that's why we felt like it was important for those districts to workout the rest of their calendar.

And then we can regroup in the summer and going into the next school year to see what, because again, another reason not to extend the school year.

Steve, we don't know how long this social distancing, the guidelines from the CDC and the health Department are gonna last.

It's possible that we could not have gone back into our physical classrooms.

Anytime before June or July, so too many unknowns.

Also that way into that decision.

Doctor Smith.

This particular question comes in from Loretta on our affairs email address, but it is of a piece with numerous other parents who have an some grandparents who have written us.

I am frankly overworked.

I want to do everything they say I want to do everything I can.

To help my child or my grandchild succeed, but this is too much for Maine.

I'm too old, are you?

I'm I'm overworked.

I have to work at eight hour day at 10 hour day and then I have to help my youngster.

No.

Times that we are giving to school districts.

Right now they need to think about what is going on in the homes right now.

And you are right, we can have grandparents.

We have parents.

We have people working full time job full time, jobs.

You have multiple kids in one home.

So that is something that school districts have to think about.

An again am I looks different.

It doesn't mean it has to be 6 hours of instruction for their students sitting at the kitchen table with mom or Grandma.

I'm trying to do this work so schools have to adjust as we move.

What am I look like in week one of this?

Will look different and wait three and will look different in week five and should look different.

And you know, a I mean, district should be monitoring what's going on in their communities.

They should be providing some type of survey or soliciting feedback from their families to say how's it just working.

What can we do to support you?

So there needs to be some adjustment made.

So yeah, I've heard the same thing we've got people doing the best they can in the situation that they're in.

And so we're hoping to give out some clear guidance to schools.

On how do they provide additional support or kind of minimize?

Maybe what they what they expect Tations are 'cause we have a lot of schools who are trying to do 6 hours of instruction meeting with every teacher every day.

I'm hitting every subject and we've given permission granted to say hey you can pull back from that.

You know what are the things that are essential right now?

What do we want to make sure that our kids learn this year?

What they get it this year so that their successful moving into next year?

And that's the part right now that our schools and our families need to work together to find that balance.

Emily, I believe I gather from this particular email is a teacher, but might well be a parent.

Would you recommend duck Smith?

Some apps that seem to work best and I gather this is at the elementary level.

Yeah, so you've got lots of different ones out there and you've seen lots of vendors coming in you.

You see lots of folks using like seesaw for the Elementary.

It's a platform.

You see schools using their virtual providers using a canvas platform.

As far as specific apps, I don't know that I'm an expert in that area.

We do have a resource document on our website that actually has recommendations for online resources for parents to use with their students, but will be glad to prove.

Be able to look at and find some additional resources that's needed for our teachers.

Call Maria If I may just to say that, uh, and Express my thanks for the partnership that we have with Arkansas PBS to create the Arkansas MI resources.

Programming Arkansas PBS is shifted their morning schedule to provide programming and we are receiving very positive feedback from that.

It seems to strike the right balance for the schools that are using those resources.

It doesn't put a lot of added pressure on parents, grandparents, caregivers to be directly involved there are.

We have links to.

Number of resources apps, learning guides, things to watch we've engaged are Arkansas teachers of the year to help intro and provide many lessons and help our students to understand.

Here's what you're going to be learning.

Here's what you need to look for, so I think any any district that would is struggling with coming up with a very solid am I plan, I think would do well to look at what Arkansas PBS and.

The Division of Elementary Secondary Education is providing through the Arkansas am I and then for the secondary level looking at the opportunity schools have to engage with virtual Arkansas and the Arkansas Public School Resource Center.

Number of online courses that are there for high school students that some districts are taking advantage of as well.

So there are a number of resources out there and looking at our website that you should be able to easily find those.

Play a Facebook question for doctor Markham.

Our universities, Colleges, Universities, Doctor Mark.

I'm gonna go to a pass fail system for this semester.

Yeah, some of them are.

We've had a couple of universities have announced that all courses will be passed filled with a spring.

We've had others that will be passed, failed for some courses and then others who are giving students the option to either accept the letter grade or to elect a pass fail.

There are positive and negative.

Aspects of the pass fail.

Sometimes we have difficulty transferring courses between institutions of a pass.

Fail is given other situations students with past fails are able to use those courses for admissions purposes for graduate programs, so it's not practical or recommended for all types of courses or all students, but it is being given as an option when it is beneficial to students so.

Also we have at division waved the continuing eligibility requirement for GPA for spring semester for all of our state scholarship and aid programs.

So those pass failed course grades will not negatively impact the students ability to continue receiving their financial aid from the state of Arkansas.

Arkansas innocence, then, is in the same situation as other states.

In terms of the of the evaluation, anyway, great evaluation.

Yes.

The question from an email question from Crystal Doctor Smith or secretary key we haven't mentioned yet in this broadcast.

The special needs of kids with our students with learning disabilities.

Is this a?

What can you add to that situation?

Locksmith will start with you.

They need special attention.

Yeah, in school districts are encouraged to revisit the soons IPS.

Their expectation is that they are delivering instruction during this time to those students through whatever alternate methods they determine meets the students needs.

But school districts most certainly need to be re looking at their students IPS.

They need to above everything else.

They need to make sure they're communicating with the parents.

You know, that's probably the thing that causes the most frustration is.

Lack of communication or knowing what's happening or what services are being provided to my child.

So districts have been encouraged to reach out, make contact with parents, let parents know hey, this is how we're meeting your child's needs during this time.

Does it work?

Is it?

Is it working?

Is it not working?

What can we do differently?

They will have to after.

When we get to the end of the year or as we're leading up to the end of the year, they're going to have to evaluate, do an extended your services need to be provided to those students, and you're going to see cases in which some of those students will require some summer.

You know, learning opportunities.

The Secretary, Kiwi, geared up to do that at this time.

Yeah well, we have to gear up.

I mean we don't have a choice.

These students need these services an we are legally obliged.

Their districts are obliged to provide those so obviously in a practical sense there are some elements of those plans that can't be delivered.

Right now.

A student that needs physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy just for our overall.

Health reasons now under this emergency these you can have a close contact that you need to have with these specialists that go into the schools that provide these services.

So what, we're encouraging schools to do is to make sure they understand the Times that are being missed.

An at whatever point time we go back to and we get some relief from these restrictions.

They need to go in.

And they need to re engage with those students in those families.

Start providing that therapy.

Whatever type of therapy it is, it's identified in the IP.

This emergency that we're in now is not absolved anyone.

The state school districts anyone of their obligation for these students, and we don't take that lightly.

We were very serious about it and we want to support our districts and making sure that they can provide and meet those needs when when the health crisis subsides.

Now stay with Secretary Key and then go to director Markham.

Zach Turkey a worst case scenario would would appear to be or a very bad scenario would would appear to be that if social distancing continues into what would be the autumn term beginning in August is there any contingency planning under way should that be advisable?

Well, we're always complaining for the contingencies, uh, one of the things that I really respect.

The governor is brought to the table with from his experience in Homeland Security is his years of experience in that field is the we need to be prepared for anything.

So do we have any plans right now that we can talk about?

No, because they are very much in the conceptual state.

We we will also be leaning very heavily on the medical advice scientific advice so as it looks now.

The curves show that in a few months we will be out of this.

Here's what we haven't talked about yet too much and that's is this.

Going to follow what we call the flu season.

This is going to be something similar that until vaccines or whatever other more permanent solutions are found, will will this be something that cycles and will it impact schools if there is a cycle?

So those are all considerations that we have to be.

Planning for working toward and we're certainly doing that.

Maria Markham.

So the colleges are putting together contingency plans at this point, several of our institutions have already announced that all of their summer courses will be online, so they don't plan to reinstate physical face to face courses for summer.

I think that as the summer moves on will be able to make better decisions about what to do in the fall.

But this spring and the summer online instruction has definitely presented an opportunity for faculty to prepare for those movements online.

And we'll be able to provide some professional development for those faculty who are not as well versed.

And distant learning to be prepared for a fall semester that may look much like the spring.

And so there are some contingency plans in place for being proactive with summer and will see you know with this when the curve begins to flatten as it falls off.

If it would be a responsible thing to bring students back to campus, couple of minutes remaining and the question goes to Stacy Smith.

Doctor Smith from again from parents from grandparents from every social medium there is OK am I?

How do I best use it?

I want to do the best I can for my.

Grandson for my daughter for everyone.

How can I best utilize these?

Well, you know parents have always been the first teacher for their child, OK?

And so how do they best utilized this?

They need to go ahead and try to plan some structure within their day.

K set aside time for education in case.

Set aside time to work on school work.

Make sure your kids are in routines right now.

Make sure kids are getting up there getting dressed, putting your shoes on, doing your hair, brushing your teeth, all those things, beginning folks on a schedule.

OK also.

Learning can be fun and it should be fun.

And we we we are hearing from people who are sitting at the kitchen table and you know those frustrations in temperate.

I mean, I know teaching my own kids is harder than teaching my classroom of kids, but learning can be fun.

Get out of the house, take a walk, you know if you're talking about shapes and geometric figures, walk around.

Look for him identifying.

Put hands on things it doesn't have to be at the kitchen table, skill and drill school districts have been encouraged to.

Rethink types of assignments that are being asked to families to do, and so I mom and dad.

Step back and look at this and say as mom and dad, how can I do this with my child, not as the classroom teacher but his mom and dad.

How can I do this and if they are having issues or trouble with the concept or a skill that's being asked, that's where they need to reach out to the school into the teacher and they need to communicate that and say I need more support with this lesson or this skill.

It's not a comfort zone.

But Raid with your kid rate everyday.

Have your child read to you.

You know, that's probably if I would say there's one thing if you were gonna make sure you did one thing.

Keep reading.

Keep talking to your child.

Uhm, keep having your child sit down and write to keep a Journal.

That's important right now, and so learning hasn't stopped just because we're not in a brick and mortar building.

And parents have always been the first teacher.

And with that, our time has simply expired.

We hope we have been able to impart something.

Anyway to our audience.

And if we were able to, it is strictly becausw of doctor Smith, Secretary Kian, Doctor Markham.

Thank you.

The three of you very, very much for being part of our special edition of Arkansas week.

As always, we think the audience for watching and we'll see you next week.

Support for Arkansas week provided by the Arkansas Democrat Gazette.

The Arkansas times and Kuer FM 89.