Arkansas school districts on board with ‘phone-free’ pilot program

KUAR | By Daniel Breen

About 180 of Arkansas’ 237 public school districts will limit students’ phone usage in the upcoming school year as part of a pilot program championed by Gov. Sarah Sanders and state education officials.

The program, announced last month, provides students with pouches to store, but not access, their phones during the school day. Grants for telehealth services to address students’ mental health will also be available to participating school districts.

Speaking at Ardis Ann Middle School in Bentonville Thursday, Sanders said the program’s goal is to address what she says is a link between unrestricted smartphone usage and worse mental health outcomes among students.

Arkansas school districts on board with ‘phone-free’ pilot program

Arkansas panel OKs voucher program with ‘substantive change’ for public schools

KUAR | By Mary Hennigan / Arkansas Advocate

Arkansas public schools will soon have an opportunity to collect money from the state’s new school voucher program, according to a rule passed out of a state subcommittee Tuesday.

With minimal discussion, the Administrative Rules Subcommittee of the Arkansas Legislative Council unanimously reviewed and approved a permanent rule governing Education Freedom Accounts, which included a “substantive change” from previously approved emergency rules.

Under the revised rule, public schools will be listed as “education service providers” and will be eligible to receive funding reimbursements for services given to non-public school students. Public institutions were previously excluded from this distinction.

Arkansas panel OKs voucher program with ‘substantive change’ for public schools

Mary Hennigan/Arkansas Advocate

Administrative Rules Subcommittee of the Arkansas Legislative Council meets to discuss education-related rules on July 30, 2024.

Arkansas Schools Test Methods to Avoid COVID-19 Quarantine

By JACQUELINE FROELICH

Springdale Public School District is among four districts in Arkansas participating in a COVID-19 rapid test pilot program this autumn to help reduce the need to quarantine due to exposure to the virus. State leaders are also monitoring Thaden School, a private grades 6 through 12 school in Bentonville, which no longer is required to institute quarantines due to having a high vaccination rate among faculty, staff and students.

https://www.kuaf.com/post/arkansas-schools-test-methods-avoid-covid-19-quarantine

COURTESY / SPRINGDALE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Arkansas Educators Hit Hard By COVID-19, New Figures Show

Since Aug. 24, approximately 2,060 Arkansas public school teachers and staff have tested positive for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, according to the Arkansas Department of Health. At least 60 have been hospitalized, 14 have landed in an intensive care unit and seven have been placed on ventilators. Six have died, according to health department data and news reports.

The numbers, which the health department provided to the Arkansas Nonprofit News Network on Oct. 21, shed new light on the toll that COVID-19 has taken on Arkansas educators since the school year began. The health department has not previously published statewide totals for public school employees over this period. The department does publish a biweekly report of school employee and student case numbers in school districts with five or more “active” cases, along with cumulative cases since June 15.

https://www.ualrpublicradio.org/post/arkansas-educators-hit-hard-covid-19-new-figures-show

Arkansas Educators Hit Hard By COVID-19, New Figures Show

Since Aug. 24, approximately 2,060 Arkansas public school teachers and staff have tested positive for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, according to the Arkansas Department of Health. At least 60 have been hospitalized, 14 have landed in an intensive care unit and seven have been placed on ventilators.