State board approves waivers for Arkansas school districts moving to alternate calendars

KUAR | By Antoinette Grajeda / Arkansas Advocate

From the Arkansas Advocate:

Arkansas education officials on Wednesday voted to allow half the state’s public school districts to add time to each school day for the rest of the year to make up for January’s snow days.

The shift from a traditional days-based calendar to an alternate hourly calendar comes as January’s severe winter weather highlighted the LEARNS Act’s practical elimination of alternative methods of instruction (AMI) days, which districts used in recent years to offer virtual instruction when schools were closed for weather, disease outbreaks or utility outages.

While the LEARNS Act did not repeal the law that created AMI days, it does require at least 178 days or 1,078 hours of “on-site, in-person instruction” to receive state funding that supports increasing the state’s minimum teacher salary from $36,000 to $50,000.

State board approves waivers for Arkansas school districts moving to alternate calendars

ACHI: All But 3 Arkansas School Districts Now in High Rate Zone

by: Dalton Flippo

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — According to the Arkansas Department of Health, 200 Arkansas school districts have COVID-19 infection rates of 50 or more new known infections per 10,000 district residents over a 14-day period, which is up from 182 last week.

Of those 200 districts, 50 have 14-day COVID-19 infection rates of 100 or more new known infections per 10,000 district residents, or more than 1% residents, up from 42 a week earlier.

Coronavirus in Arkansas: 3,549 new cases, 16 additional deaths

The local-level COVID-19 data can be found on the ACHI’s COVID-19 in Arkansas web page located here.

https://www.nwahomepage.com/news/achi-all-but-3-arkansas-school-districts-now-in-high-rate-zone/

Bill That Amends Arkansas Mask Mandate Ban Stalls In House Committee

By SARAH KELLOGG

A bill that would allow Arkansas school districts to implement mask mandates if they meet a COVID-19 case threshold is being reworked to address the concerns of some lawmakers. Members of the House Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee spent just under three hours Wednesday discussing and listening to public comments on the proposed legislation.

According to the bill, a school district must have a 14-day COVID-19 infection rate of at least 50 new infections per 10,000 residents based on data published by either the Arkansas Department of Health or the Arkansas Center for Health improvement.

Rep. Julie Mayberry, R-Hensley, is the bill’s sponsor and said she was open to whatever suggestions lawmakers had if it helped pass the legislation.

https://www.ualrpublicradio.org/post/bill-amends-arkansas-mask-mandate-ban-stalls-house-committee

Rep. Julie Mayberry, R-Hensley, presents House Bill 1003 to the House Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee on the first day of the special legislative session.

CREDIT ARKANSAS HOUSE

COVID-19 Hospitalizations and Patients on Ventilators Reach New Daily Records

COVID-19 hospitalizations and ventilations hit new record highs, and the number of school districts with high community infection rates jumped from 88 to 117. Arkansas’ former Surgeon General said the state is moving “into a bad place” with respect to COVID spread.

The Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) on Wednesday (Nov. 25) reported a rise of 40 COVID hospitalizations, pushing the total to a record of 1,028. COVID patients on ventilators rose by 31 to a record 190. Total cumulative confirmed and probable cases rose by 1,965 to 150,277, and confirmed and probable deaths rose by 20 to 2,425.

https://talkbusiness.net/2020/11/covid-19-hospitalizations-and-patients-on-ventilators-reach-new-daily-records/

COVID-19 hospitalizations and patients on ventilators reach new daily records - Talk Business & Politics

COVID-19 hospitalizations and ventilations hit new record highs, and the number of school districts with high community infection rates jumped from 88 to 117. Arkansas' former Surgeon General said the state is moving "into a bad place" with respect to COVID spread. The Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) on Wednesday (Nov.