JOHNSON, Arkansas — According to the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE), Alternate Methods of Instruction, or AMI, days involve online instruction with an approved plan used when on-site instruction is closed due to exceptional or emergency circumstances "like severe weather, a contagious disease outbreak, a utility outage, or an act of God."
Arkansas State Representative Julie Mayberry says "We had tornadoes last year that shut down some school districts ... that's when I started asking questions like, 'Will AMI exist if we have another tornado or snowstorm? If we have a flood, whatever that emergency might be, can students work remotely so they don't lose those days?'"
The Arkansas LEARNS Act says a public school district must be open for on-site, in-person instruction for at least 178 days, or 1068 hours, to get funding from the state for teacher's salaries. It essentially ends AMI days.
But Representative Mayberry says the law that established AMI days was not repealed and is still on the books despite the LEARNS Act. She says she simply wanted some clarification.
"I originally made the request, because I think a lot of people were confused on whether AMI still existed under the LEARNS Act or not," Representative Mayberry adds.
Attorney General Tim Griffin responded to Representative Mayberry's request with a legal opinion that says attendance on virtual learning days would probably not count towards the 178 days of on-site, in-person instruction, however, he said exceptions could be made.
Representative Mayberry says she appreciated the snow days because "It was fun to have a day where you could just go outside and play in the snow and not worry about work. But especially when it's more than one day, the student has a loss of learning. And we want to make sure that the students can keep up with learning. Emergencies happen."
She says she tried to get a bill passed to approve five AMI days from the original ten allocated days in case of a severe emergency. She was not successful.
"I could not get that bill through the House of Representatives, I still want to try next session."
The Arkansas Department of Education says decisions regarding district calendars, the use of AMI days, and whether to close the school and use makeup days are made completely on the local district level. However, districts that choose to continue to use AMI days rather than closing and later using makeup days will not get any funding under the Learns Act.
Watch 5NEWS on YouTube.
Download the 5NEWS app on your smartphone:
Stream 5NEWS 24/7 on the 5+ app: How to watch the 5+ app on your streaming device
To report a typo or grammatical error, please email KFSMDigitalTeam@tegna.com and detail which story you're referring to.