Safety worries nix eclipse viewing in Rogers schools

Students and faculty at Northwest Arkansas Community College stand outside the Becky Paneitz Student Center on Monday to watch the solar eclipse.
Students and faculty at Northwest Arkansas Community College stand outside the Becky Paneitz Student Center on Monday to watch the solar eclipse.

ROGERS -- Safety concerns prompted the School District on Monday to cancel plans to let students view the solar eclipse, a district spokeswoman said.

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The partial solar eclipse on Monday could be viewed in Northwest Arkansas for about three hours, from about 11:40 a.m. until 2:40 p.m. The maximum eclipse was about 1:15 p.m., with about 90 percent of the sun blocked from view by the moon. This photo was taken at the Gentry Elementary School with a homemade filter constructed from the same safety glasses children used at the Gentry schools. One lens was cut from the glasses and attached to a cardboard disk placed over the camera lens to keep direct sunlight from entering the camera and possibly damaging the image sensor.

Ashley Siwiec, communications director, said the district became more concerned Monday morning about counterfeit glasses, and that the thousands of pairs the district had ordered might not have been "of sufficient quality."

The district's central office alerted the schools they should not let students use those glasses, and that instead they'd need to view the eclipse on television or online, Siwiec said.

The district delivered the following message to parents by phone call and email at 10:30 a.m. Monday: "We want to let you know that with more information coming out about concerns with counterfeit eclipse viewing glasses, as a precaution our schools will not take their students outside but rather will offer the option to view the eclipse on television. Thank you for understanding that we want to put our students' safety first."

Siwiec told the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette she didn't have an exact number of glasses the district had ordered, but that Rogers had placed a bulk order of 7,000 pairs for all 15 elementary schools at a cost of 33 cents each, or $2,310 total. That order was placed through Amazon.com, she said Monday.

Asked if the district intends to try to get its money back, Siwiec said, "I think we will explore that."

Parents' reactions to the decision were mixed, she said. While most appreciated the district for playing it safe, others were disappointed.

"We're disappointed too, but the teachers were great. They made it interesting and shared everything with the students that they could and many viewed [the eclipse)] online or on television," Siwiec said.

NW News on 08/22/2017

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