LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Some Little Rock students skipped class Wednesday with their parents’ permission. It was all in an effort to create change.
Organizers of the "virtual blackout" want to highlight what they say are issues with the online learning experience in the Little Rock School District.
Chelsea Hudspeth helped organize the movement. Her daughter, a second-grade student at Otter Creek Elementary School, is attending school virtually this fall.
“It's not perfect, but we're making it work,” Hudspeth said.
She called the start of the school year “a rollercoaster” and wants to see changes in LRSD’s virtual learning policies and procedures.
“The systems just aren't correlating,” Hudspeth said. “They're not working together properly, despite all of the efforts that teachers are putting in and that parents are trying to work with.”
Those frustrations led to Wednesday’s movement, which Hudspeth said started as a discussion within Grassroots Arkansas.
“We're rallying for a better experience for all of us,” she said.
“We're not asking for an extreme one way or another. We're asking for a middle ground that everyone can feel safe and satisfied with.”
Those behind the virtual blackout issued a list of demands to the school district.
They are listed below in bold, with LRSD’s response in italics:
1. We demand teachers to have one focus. Virtual students or face-to-face students.
LRSD response: We will continue to follow the District’s Ready for Learning Plan and are working to adjust the instructional week so that educators have more time to support and students receive additional support during the instructional day each week.
2. We demand further assignments to be held or extended until both parents and teachers are able to catch up and there is a clear plan moving forward.
LRSD response: LRSD is considering an early release, which will create additional time for educators to plan and support students; it will also create additional time for students to receive support during the instructional day. We have received feedback on this proposal from LRSD’s PPC (Personnel Policy Committee).
3. We demand all students have devices and access to internet before education continues. We need to make sure everyone is making education choices based on access and not need.
LRSD response: The District agrees that this is a need and is addressing the need. LRSD, along with state and city partners, has provided, and will continue to provide, hot spots to all students who have connectivity issues. The District also plans to move to one-to-one with technology devices. The technology devices that were ordered in the Spring are on backorder; we continue to receive portions of the order. As we receive the orders, we are disseminating them to the schools. We have worked to ensure that all students who are participating in the virtual learning option have received a device; we are now working to ensure that all students in the in-person learning option also receive a device.
4. We don’t want any teachers who participated in the action Monday to be disciplined when they were simply trying to draw attention to major issues.
LRSD response: Unfortunately, the District cannot respond to this statement because it is a personnel matter.
Although Hudspeth's daughter was absent Wednesday, she said learning continued, and she hopes it leads to a better school year for all students.
“We are doing everything as parents to be successful, and if we didn’t want to do school we would just be quiet and not do school,” Hudspeth said.
“We wouldn’t fuss about it. We just wouldn’t participate. Obviously, we want to do school we just want to do it fairly and we want to do it equally and equitably.”
It is unclear how many students participated in the blackout. An LRSD spokesperson said Wednesday’s attendance figures would not be available until Thursday.