WATCH: Hot Springs schools continue to show drops in COVID cases

Hot Springs School District Superintendent Stephanie Nehus discusses the district’s ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic. - Photo by Brandon Smith of The Sentinel-Record
Hot Springs School District Superintendent Stephanie Nehus discusses the district’s ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic. - Photo by Brandon Smith of The Sentinel-Record

As more school districts continue to report significant decreases in the number of active COVID-19 cases on campus, Hot Springs School District officials are optimistic about removing its mask mandate in the near future.

The district reported 20 active student cases and 10 active staff cases Monday morning, which is a drop of nearly half from Friday, and even more the week before.

"Just to give you kind of a guide, two weeks ago we had close to 200 active student cases that Friday and about 55 active staff cases," Hot Springs Superintendent Stephanie Nehus said. "So we have seen significant decreases in those numbers and while we realize that we can't say this surge is over yet, we're definitely starting to feel just a little bit of a reprieve."



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Nehus said she realizes the mask mandate is a hot topic and many parents consistently ask about it. The school board removed the mandate starting Jan. 4 at its Dec. 14 meeting, but set parameters as to when they would be required again, based on the number of active cases in each school building and the district's numbers from the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement. The parameters note masks are not required as long as each building has no more than five active cases and/or the district has no more than 19 per 10,000 residents.

"We do predict that these constraints, these conditions, are going to remain present for probably another month or so," she said. "But we are watching that every week and we remain committed to lifting that mask mandate as soon as it's safe to do that. ... We hope that we'll continue to see this decrease and it will allow us to get back to those parameters that will allow us to make a change."

While the district recently had to shut down Main Street Visual & Performing Arts Magnet School and use two Alternative Methods of Instruction days, Nehus noted it was critical to keep school doors open as the families and the community rely on that education. In an even broader perspective, they rely on the district for food and clothes in some cases in addition to offering a safe learning environment.

"It's important that we allow our parents to continue working because it's hard on them when we have to send students home, and that impacts their livelihood, so we take all of that into consideration," she said.

She said a major reason MSVPA went virtual was because of 45% of the staff being out.

"We had a serious concern and so we had to make that shift," she said. "It went very smoothly. We're almost two years into this pandemic and while in the beginning it was hard to transition to virtual learning, it is not hard for us at this point in time. We shifted seamlessly, our teachers continued engaging with the students, students kept learning, and while we didn't want to close for four days, we needed to do that."

While the majority of staff members are back, finding substitute teachers, she said, is a whole other challenge. She said there are not enough substitutes for the needs the district has at this point in time, whether it is teachers, paraprofessionals, administrators, maintenance or transportation. This has caused a shift in the working style employees have to fill in various roles and ensures students are getting education and personal attention they need.

"It's been a concerted effort," she said. "We are in a much better place today than we were two weeks ago as far as our true staff being here. I do think that it's important to stress the fact of how proud I am, but the reality is, it's been really hard.

"And the staff that has stayed healthy and has been able to come, day in and day out, they are so dedicated, and they're filling roles that are not normal," she said. "It has definitely been the hardest, really, month, throughout this entire pandemic this month of January. More or less, it's just been impossible the work that they had to accomplish."

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