The Jacksonville/North Pulaski School District is making Mondays a day for students in grades six through 12 to learn virtually from home starting Oct. 12 and continuing through the end of January.
“In January, we will reevaluate and assess the need to continue or discontinue the practice,” Superintendent Bryan Duffie announced Thursday.
The district is making the change to the instruction program on Mondays “primarily to help ease the burden on our secondary school faculty where all classes are combined with on-site and virtual scholars,” Duffie said.
“We have surveyed our teachers, listened to their concerns, and their feedback is clear: the amount of work required with our current model of instruction is not sustainable. Virtual Mondays will give teachers protected time for the added tasks that have come with this unusual school year,” he said, adding that the change is meant to provide relief and additional support to students and faculty members.
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The district decision comes at a time when Little Rock and North Little Rock school district leaders in Pulaski County have said they are exploring ways to give teachers more planning time or other adjustments to ease the workload of teaching students online and in-class. The Pulaski County Special School District has already established an early-release for students on Wednesdays.
Duffie said the Jacksonville plan is to make the Mondays “very structured for staff with specific blocks of time dedicated” to tasks such as grading and providing feedback to students. There will also be time for instructional support and interventions with students as well as time for developing resources such as instructional videos and online lessons.
Parents have the option of having their children learn from home or attend school on campus on Mondays, Duffie said.
Students who choose to learn from home on Mondays will not be counted absent as long as they complete the required online attendance documentation, Duffie said.
Any in-class instruction of students on “Virtual Mondays” will be 100% online instruction.
Students who choose to go to school on Monday to complete their virtual work on campus will check in as normal, follow screening protocols, and be assigned to a designated area to complete their assignments for the day.
On virtual Mondays, students will focus on attending any live intervention sessions with teachers, completing any missed assignments or assessments, completing their review lessons for each class, and if there is time remaining, they will work in “My Path” lessons that are aligned to results from the Northwest Education Association test results.