Arkadelphia School District AMI Information

Act 862 of 2017 allows a public school district and open-enrollment public charter school to develop a plan for alternative methods of instruction to be used on days when the superintendent closes school due to exceptional or emergency circumstances.

The Arkadelphia Public School District has been approved by the Arkansas Department of Education to utilize up to 10 Alternate Methods of Instruction (AMI) days beginning in the 2021-22 School. This approval extends to the next four years. AMI Days enable APSD to provide learning opportunities for students when the District is closed due to exceptional or emergency circumstances such as contagious disease outbreaks, inclement weather, utility outage, or other acts of God.

AMI Procedures

The Arkadelphia School District provides one-to-one digital devices for students in Grades K-12. On AMI days, APSD will pivot to virtual learning for all students affected. When inclement weather or other foreseeable events are a threat, students will be reminded to take home Chromebooks in order to participate in virtual learning. In anticipation of the loss of power or Internet services, devices will be charged and assignments will be downloaded onto student devices prior to an AMI day. Teachers will post assignments and communicate via their Learning Management System(LMS). The Learning Management Systems for APSD campuses include Perritt-Seesaw; Peake, Goza, and Arkadelphia High School-ECHO. In the event of a power or Internet outage, teachers will communicate with students and families using Remind. Remind allows for two-way communication between teachers and the home. Schools will communicate expectations with families through the District's automated phone and/or text messaging system. Students and teachers will also use their LMS and devices during onsite instruction, so students and teachers will be capable of seamlessly pivoting to virtual instruction.

APSD AMI Family Question & Answer Document

AMI Attendance Policy

A student in a virtual/remote environment who is not physically present on campus will be marked present if the student stays engaged in remote learning.

Definition of Engagement- A student logs in weekly to the learning platform, participates in scheduled Zoom or Google Meet video conferences and submits assignments according to specified due dates. The adjustment may be made to meet an individual student's needs based on their IEP, 504, or LPAC plan.

For extenuating circumstances that require longer periods of time to complete assignments, the Digital Learning Coordinator or building administrator will work with the student and family to create a student success plan.

AMI Special Services

Speech services will be provided by the District's certified Speech Therapists via Zoom or Google Meet. In anticipation of the loss of power or Internet services, Speech Therapists will send home paper packets prior to an AMI day. Efforts will also be made to make up the missed speech therapy sessions upon school reopening. In the event of the loss of power or the Internet, SpeechTherapists will communicate with students and families using Remind. Remind allows for two-way communication between teachers and the home. Schools will communicate expectations with families via the District's automated phone and/or text messaging system. Occupational Therapists and Physical Therapists are contracted services. The District Special Education Supervisor will work with those entities to provide services during a school closure or to make up the services upon school reopening.

AMI Notification Procedures

Notifications of an impending AMI Day will be made to the social media platforms of the Arkadelphia Public School District including the accounts of each school campus. Arkadelphia Public Schools' social media accounts include Facebook and Twitter. AMI information will be posted on the APSD website at www.arkadelphiaschools.org

In addition, families will be notified through the APSD automated phone and/or text messaging system. Please be sure that your contact information is updated with your child's home campus.