COVID-19 Update as of 3/13/2020 Statement from Craig Dupuy

This afternoon, Governor Hutchinson and Secretary Key instructed school superintendents there is no reason to close schools beyond the 4 counties and the districts named yesterday. Until a positive test of the COVID-19 virus shows up in the Cleveland County School District, classes will be in session. Both Governor Hutchinson and Secretary Key stressed that “schools were the safest place to be for our students”.  They both were very positive in stressing that student’s need normalcy to their everyday routines, assurance that everything is ok, and continuance to their educational needs, as well as access to food that we provide during the school day.

The Cleveland County School District will continue to abide by the information/orders from the Arkansas Department of Health, Department of Secondary and Elementary Education, and Governor’s Office.

I will be in touch throughout the weekend monitoring the situation with my building principals Davey King, Tish Johnson, and Jeff McKinney, Nurse Stefani Wilson, Head Start Director Laura Burns, our local county health office contact Jamie Hurst, County Health Administrator Dr. Mark Attwood, our OEM contact Stephen McClellan, and County Judge Gary Spears.

As time moves over the weekend, there may be an order given to close the Cleveland County School District. If so, my building principals and respective building teachers are set to provide instruction through our AMI plan approved by the DESE. Teachers will be available by email from 8AM-3PM to answer questions. Teachers will be monitoring email and doing their best to answer student questions during this time. This will be new to all us and there may be obstacles that we did not plan that we will need to adjust to on the fly! Parents, I encourage you to relax when it comes to the AMI assignments. We will work very closely with your children to make sure they are trying to get them completed and turned in for grading once we return to school. The students should make every attempt to complete the packets/Google work assigned by their teachers.

The Cleveland County School District is also sending in an emergency request to DESE Child Nutrition for approval/permission to utilize a feeding program for the students in the CCSD should we be ordered to close the district. Chartwell’s will still be providing food and we will be working to establish set up points within our communities to provide our students with a plate lunch. Details to this are still in the planning phase, but we are thinking ahead in the event we must close the district. I will post more information as needed for this should the need for it occur, as well as the sites where food will be available for CCSD students.

Please continue to monitor your local news, the CCSD Parent Page, the CC Herald FB page for any developments over the weekend.

Stay safe, limit your exposure to large crowds, wash your hand often, and if you feel sick please call before you show up at your doctor office, the ER, or any medical provider’s location. They will have protocols for you to follow before showing up and possibly exposing more people should you feel ill.

Here are some numbers that were provided to the district to help you in the event of illness:

1-833-504-0155  Department of Health

1-800-803-7847   After hours number for Department of Health

1-800-743-3616  Number for anyone associated with Children’s Hospital 

Thanks!