Watson Chapel School District (WCSD) Request for Public Comments on the Ready For Learning and ESSER Plans in preparations for updates for the 2021-22 school year.

April 6, 2021, Governor Hutchinson announced the statewide mask mandate will be lifted in Arkansas, effective immediately. The Governor's press conference announcement does not change the guidance and recommendations for schools from the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) or Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). ADH and DESE both strongly advise districts to continue to follow all measures that have allowed successful in-person learning to occur, which includes physical distancing, mask wearing, hand washing, cleaning and maintaining healthy facilities, and Identification of close contacts.

Watson Chapel School District (WCSD) adopted a Ready for Learning (RfL) ESSER Plan(s) for the 2020-2021 school year in adherence to those recommendations. The procedures WCSD has followed since the beginning of the year have helped prevent person-to-person spread of the virus among students and staff while at school. For this reason, the district will continue following ADH and DESE recommendations and the Ready for Learning Plan and ESSER plans until further notice, which transitions us to now provide COVID guidance as determined by the WCSD Board of Education. WCSD is currently in the process of reviewing the RfL plan and seeking public comments.  WCSD will begin the development of the 2021-2022 school year following public comments.

The current Watson Chapel School District Ready for Learning ESSER plans may be found on the WCSD website at https://s3.amazonaws.com/scschoolfiles/2493/_district_support_plan_2020-2021_revised_4_13_2021.pdf for review by those providing Public Comments.