Arkansas' public school 12th-graders -- caught up in a pandemic that has closed their school buildings and restricted social gatherings -- spent spring break wondering if any part of their capstone year can be salvaged.
In jeopardy are not only the conclusion of the traditional academic school year and end-of-year testing for college credit, but also whole athletic seasons and tournament thrillers, quiz bowl matches, science fairs, concerts, award assemblies, banquets, proms and graduations.
Seniors
6,255: The number of students identified as 12th-graders who were enrolled in traditional public and charter schools in Benton and Washington counties as of Oct. 1.
Source: Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education
"It's a year of lasts that we didn't know we wouldn't have," said Addie Hegde, a senior at Fayetteville High who plans to attend Arizona State University's School of Sustainability in the fall.
But Hegde and other 17- and 18-year-olds interviewed this past week said as much as they would like to have a traditional senior year, they understand the decision to close school buildings through at least April 17.
"It's irresponsible and selfish not to take into account that people are at risk," Hegde said about the threat of the contagious covid-19 that has sickened tens of thousands in the United States. In Arkansas dozens of cases are being diagnosed daily, and six people had died as of Sunday.
Many school districts have canceled or postponed proms and other events scheduled for April. The status of graduation ceremonies is up in the air.
Bentonville School District's two high schools were scheduled to have graduation ceremonies at Bud Walton Arena at the University of Arkansas on May 16, but the district is evaluating alternate plans and dates for those ceremonies because the arena will be unavailable in May, according to a Facebook post by the district.
Megan Martin is part of the first class to attend Bentonville's West High School from ninth through 12th grade. West opened in 2016.
Martin, 17, is disappointed she'll miss out on the traditional end-of-the-year events that come with senior year.
"I'm not going to lie. It kind of sucks," she said. "It's that part of senior year all people look forward to."
But she especially hates that her track and field season was canceled. Martin, who holds several school records in the running events, was looking forward to senior night, the home track meet when the senior athletes are honored along with their parents.
"That definitely hurts," she said.
Exemptions and requirements
Gov. Asa Hutchinson on March 13 directed schools in four central Arkansas counties to close for on-site instruction and expanded that March 17 to include all public schools in the state as part of a multi-pronged effort to curb the virus' spread.
The schools have about 479,000 students and are set to be closed for at least five weeks. Students and teachers, however, are expected to do school work at home using paper packets of lessons and/or online and televised lessons to avoid having to make up the missed days later.
The impact of the closed schools and the call for social distancing is especially great on the Class of 2020, the members of which were born just after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon and whose school years included defense training in the event of armed attackers on their campuses.
The Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education has offered guidance to superintendents and principals about the senior class, saying in part that the students can be exempted from having to pass the U.S. citizenship civics exam and from taking courses in digital learning, CPR and personal finance they otherwise would have to complete to graduate.
Initial guidelines from the state said, "Seniors who are on track to graduate and in good standing as of the third nine weeks reporting period will be considered 'as meeting the graduation requirements' for the state of Arkansas."
Education division officials elaborated last week to say the intent of the earlier directive was to relieve questions about whether seniors would be required to participate in extended make-up days or summer school.
"It is not the [division's] position that seniors are automatically finished, since there are other considerations, such as concurrent credit courses, career technical industry certifications" and other work to be completed, according to the guidelines.
"Whether a senior is on track to graduate and in good standing as of the third nine weeks is a local school decision that will be made by school administration," according to the guidelines.
"School districts may still implement local policies for honor graduates and class rank, and should make local decisions regarding end-of-year engagement for current high school seniors regarding graduation," Arkansas Education Secretary Johnny Key and his staff said in the memorandum in which he also urged school districts to help the seniors with "next steps" such as college and scholarship applications for post-secondary education.
Seniors who are not on track for graduation as of the end of the third nine weeks grading period must be given the opportunity for credit recovery, Key's memorandum directed further.
Students enrolled in courses for weighted or extra credit, such as Advanced Placement courses, should still receive that weighted or extra credit -- regardless of the ability of a student to take Advanced Placement exams or other tests, the division has directed.
Superintendents and high school principals published messages during spring break saying they will, in the coming days and weeks, review transcripts and confer with students to determine each student's graduation status.
College Board adapts
Miguel Garcia, a senior at Rogers High School, said he had some good momentum going academically before the schools closed this month. Being forced to work on his own from home last week disrupted some of that flow. He said he misses the classroom environment and at times struggled to maintain his focus.
"You wake up late and you have to do the five hours worth of work without being tempted to look at your phone," he said.
Garcia, 18, is enrolled in six Advanced Placement courses and is gearing up for the end-of-year exams in those classes. The Advanced Placement program, run by the College Board, enables students to earn college credit if students earn qualifying scores on the end-of-year tests.
That testing schedule, however, has been disrupted by the widespread closure of schools nationwide. In response, College Board officials have said the organization is investing in the development of a new at-home testing program.
"Traditional face-to-face exam administrations will not take place," according to the College Board website. "Students will take a 45-minute online free-response exam at home."
Test-takers will be able to use any device, and even a photo of handwritten work will be an option. The tests will be on material covered only through early March. And the testing system is being designed to prevent and detect cheating, using tools such as plagiarism checks, according to the College Board. There will be two test dates for each subject area, one fairly soon for those who want to test while the material is fresh and a later test for those who want to take practice tests and otherwise do additional preparation.
A survey of some 18,000 Advanced Placement students showed that 91% wanted to go through with testing this spring, College Board officials said.
"It is what it is, and I'll just have to apply the same work ethic to the online test as I've been applying to the paper exams," Garcia said.
Garcia is a member of the quiz bowl team and has been involved in quiz bowl since sixth grade. He was looking forward to the state tournament April 4, which has been canceled. No decision has been made on whether it will be rescheduled.
"We just finished our last regionals in the beginning of March," Garcia said. "The state tournament was going to be our last. We'd gone to state the past two years and didn't do as well as we'd like. This seemed to be our shot to do a little bit better. It's pretty crushing that it doesn't look that good for the weeks coming up."
Garcia is heading to Yale University this fall on a scholarship through the QuestBridge program, he said. QuestBridge is a nonprofit group with a goal of increasing the number of talented, low-income students attending the nation's best colleges, according to the organization's website. Garcia wants to be either a doctor or a lawyer.
A challenging time
Martin, the Bentonville West senior, is still weighing her college choices but has determined to stay in the South. She has academic scholarship offers.
Martin appreciates all the Bentonville School District has done to move toward a virtual-learning model. But senioritis already was setting in before the schools shut down, and she's afraid she'll lose all motivation to do school work.
"I feel like I learn better with a teacher there and not just watching videos," she said. "Facetime and Zoom are great. But there's a point where it's too much."
Martin started an internship last fall with Movista, a Bentonville-based technology company. That, too, has become remote work.
Jose Leon, a senior at Springdale High School, made a short video for his classmates that was posted on YouTube. Leon, speaking over a montage of clips of school assemblies and athletic contests, told seniors they are not alone and should be hopeful about returning to school.
"Baseball, softball and soccer seasons have been canceled. Prom and graduation are yet to be determined. These are things we have been waiting for since we started our schooling journey," Leon said in the video.
"This video is to remind you all that we are not the only students whose senior year is getting taken because of a virus. This video is to remind you that we need to cherish all the memories we have as of now because you never know when we'll go back to school or if we'll go back to school," he said.
Hegde, the Fayetteville High senior, said there is much she will miss if seniors don't return to campus this spring.
That includes collecting signatures in her yearbook and participating in the school's traditional "Moving Up Ceremony." That's when the freshman, sophomore and junior classes symbolically move to the next grade and seniors and their teachers honor each other as the seniors walk through a gauntlet of their teachers.
"The one thing I keep in mind," Hegde said, "is that everybody else -- not just in my school but in my state, my country and across the world -- are being deprived of this year of lasts. That stinks, but at least we are in it together, and for that, I'm happy."
NW News on 03/30/2020