In 2024, The Arkansas STEM Coalition provided FREE eclipse glasses to every public school student, teacher, and staff member in the state of Arkansas, including all open-enrollment charter schools!!! Every school received enough glasses for EVERY student, teacher, and staff member.
Every school that reported to ADE for the 2023-2024 school year received glasses.
No! We worked with the ADE data system and created a list of all public schools that reported enrollment for the 2023-2024 school year. If your school reported to ADE for this school year, your school received glasses!
That was not our decision to make, so the Superintendent of the district and/or Principal at your school made that decision.
Each school got enough glasses for every student, teacher, and staff member. The exact number was based on enrollment and staffing numbers that each school reported to ADE for the 2023-2024 school year, including certified teachers, certified staff, and classified staff.
Each district office received glasses for staff not based in schools.
Calculations included an overage, so schools received MORE glasses to account for fluctuations in your enrollment and staffing.
Yes! Public schools with Pre-K programs that reported Pre-K enrollment to the ADE Division of Elementary & Secondary Education were included.
Glasses for Pre-K students that attended a school along with other K-12 grades were included in the total count for each school.
Schools that only had Pre-K students received their own bundles of glasses.
Yes! Every Coop received their own package of glasses with enough for their staff. The number received was based on the number of employees reported to ADE in the fall of 2023 for the 2023-2024 school year.
Schools still received glasses! Schools not in session got glasses far enough in advance to give them to students and staff to take home.
Schools were asked that if they were out that day to PLEASE make sure that students knew how to properly use their glasses. You can get tips for safely viewing eclipses here: https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/safety/
Click HERE to contact The Arkansas STEM Coalition if you have questions about the general process or logistics, want to confirm that this really happened, or have a media inquiry.
THIS INCLUDES SCHOOLS THAT DO NOT PAY FOR SERVICES!!
Coops will be coordinated how schools got glasses. Some glasses were delivered to coops before Spring Break and some arrived just after Spring Break, then coops distributed them from there. Coops either delivered glasses to district offices or had schools pick up glasses at the coop office.
Some schools may have gotten individual deliveries in special circumstances. Each coop had a designated Eclipse Glasses Coordinator, and you can find the list of who coordinators were and their contact information by CLICKING HERE.
NOTE: Each coop received glasses that were bundled by school and by district, so all of a single district’s glasses were together but divided up by school. District offices received a separate bundle of glasses for staff not based in schools.
The Arkansas STEM Coalition delivered glasses directly to individual schools in the Little Rock School District between March 25-29, 2024. The LRSD’s K-12 STEM Director was the eclipse glasses coordinator and provided the STEM Coalition with the name of a contact person at each LRSD school, so we delivered glasses to that person’s attention when we delivered glasses to schools.
The LRSD main office received a separate bundle of glasses for staff not based in schools.
The Arkansas STEM Coalition delivered glasses to Arkansas Public School Resource Center (APSRC) offices and/or to individual schools by March 26, 2024. With a few exceptions, charter schools picked up their glasses at either the Little Rock or Northwest AR office, in a process that APSRC described as being similar to how PPE was distributed during COVID. APSRC’s Director of Charter Development was the eclipse glasses coordinator for charter schools.
The Arkansas STEM Coalition delivered glasses to the PCSSD office and/or to individual schools between March 25-29, 2024. PCSSD’s Director of STEM and Blended Learning was the eclipse glasses coordinator and managed how glasses got from the district to each school.
The PCSSD main office will receive a separate bundle of glasses for staff not based in schools.
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