Distance learning program grant to connect PW with other schools

The Palestine-Wheatley School District has received a $521,255 grant to begin an Arkansas Delta Distance Learning program in the area including the Clarendon and Augusta school districts. According to PWSD Grant Writer Bonnie Halbert, this grant will connect the three school districts and potentially the University of Arkansas-East Arkansas Community College. "This is to create a Delta Distance Learning Program and we are going to be connected to Augusta and Clarendon," said Halbert. "We will also potentially be connected with UA-EACC. They were supportive of the project. We're hoping to provide opportunities for our students to receive criminal justice electives and military courses like ROTC electives and to be able to provide some of our high-quality teachers to other districts as well. It is going to provide a lot of technology for our students and teachers as well. This was a big win for us." Halbert explained that in a time when budgets are more uncertain than ever, this grant provides opportunities for students in smaller districts. "We have to have a qualified staff member, and for small districts it is not always effective for us to hire someone to just do that job,” said Halbert. “This allows us to kind of share those resources, especially in a time when budgets are more uncertain than ever, so that our kids can have opportunities, especially in smaller districts than us where they can't find quality staff or they don't have enough kids to warrant a full time teacher, this actually works pretty well." According to Halbert, this new program will allow veteran teachers to mentor new teachers and help them reach their goals. "A big plus for us is, let's say, Augusta hires a math teacher but they are a new math teacher and we have a very high-qualified math teacher," said Halbert. "That teacher can be in the classroom learning from our teacher. So maybe this year they are learning through distance learning, but next year, that teacher has the capability to teach the class. Or, maybe, they teach the first class of the day kind of like a co-taught class and then their teacher can take that information and teach it the rest of the day. That is a big benefit. "Also, it will help as we move toward something called a master or lead teacher, where the mentors for new teachers have to have a specific certification starting the school year after next," continued Halbert. "Not all schools have master or lead teachers on staff. This would allow for teachers from our district to mentor teachers from other districts and vice versa." Halbert said the system will be similar to video calls and will work peer-to-peer, peer to-mentor and teacher-to student. "This will be similar to Zoom calls where there will be a video feed of the teacher and the classroom and there will be microphones so they can converse back and forth," said Halbert. "They can also record those for later use or for teachers to watch themselves or peers teach. There are lots of opportunities in this. We also want to be able to provide college and career readiness for other districts as well, such as ACT prep for students wanting to participate in that if they want to go to college." According to Halbert, each class will have different learning gaps and this will make them more noticeable to their teachers allowing for more focused class time in those areas. "What our students at Palestine-Wheatley struggle with or have gaps in learning in aren't necessarily going to be the same thing that students in Augusta or Clarendon struggle with," said Halbert. "This is a way for teachers to realize in real time what their students have gaps in so they know what to work on more. They have been doing math since kindergarten, but they will all have gaps in different areas of that. Teachers will be able to see that and work on closing that gap and have another teacher to help." Halbert said that although this application process was lengthy, the district is happy to be able to provide students the opportunities and technological resources provided through this grant. "This application was quite the process," said Halbert. "There was some discrepancy, and I don't believe the application was reviewed thoroughly. We were denied at first. We appealed that denial and it was approved the second time. This has been a long process in getting this, but we are so happy to be able to provide this opportunity and the technological resources to our students that we haven't had before."

Distance learning program grant to connect PW with other schools

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