BETH HASLEY
NURSE GUIDES ARKADELPHIA SCHOOLS THROUGH PANDEMIC WITH A STEADY HAND. BY AUSTIN BAILEY
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f you want to talk to school nurse Beth Hasley, you have to wait your turn. The phone in her office at Arkadelphia’s Goza Middle School rings quite a lot, with parents calling to ask about COVID-19 testing and quarantine protocols. Hasley’s computer dings over and over with new emails. Students file in and out for medicine and Band-Aids. Hasley takes them all as they come, with an even pace and calm voice that are therapeutic in themselves. After spending the first 15 years of her career as a transit nurse, boarding helicopters to tend distressed newborns en route to urgent care, Hasley knows how to stay focused and steady under stressful conditions.
hours and juggles multiple spreadsheets to stay in command. She estimates pandemic-related issues soak up 95 percent of her workdays, and the job tumbles over into evenings and weekends. Every school district in the state has a number parents and staff can call with COVID-19-related questions. In Arkadelphia, that number goes to Hasley’s phone. “Right now, it’s a seven-day-a-week job,” she said. On top of handling the tedious logistics, Hasley also serves as sounding board and sage. Teachers on the fence about getting vaccinated call for her expert advice. “I have them read scientific articles about it instead of opinion-
complain about going to school now appreciate it a lot more. They want to be there, Hasley said. That’s one reason she sent her own three children back for in-person learning in August. Hasley was on the team that made plans for keeping Arkadelphia schools running despite COVID-19. She said she’s confident the team did its best to make school welcoming, safe and as comfortable as possible. “Our staff has done a really good job of trying to make the students feel like it’s a normal school day,” she said. Still, elementary students now eat lunch in their classrooms, play with only their classmates on the playground and go to the same enrichment
A SILVER LINING OF UNIVERSAL VIRTUAL INSTRUCTION FOR ALL ARKANSAS PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS IN THE SPRING OF 2020 IS THAT CHILDREN WHO USED TO COMPLAIN ABOUT GOING TO SCHOOL NOW APPRECIATE IT A LOT MORE. It’s a trait that serves her well as the main COVID-19 point of contact for the Arkadelphia School District. This role puts Hasley in charge of tracing every positive case in the district. She watches video footage from classrooms to identify who came in close contact and determine who needs to be sent home to quarantine. She helps parents figure out where to take their children for COVID-19 testing and care. And she keeps track of who quarantines and when to make sure they’re meeting guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Since August 2020, more than 140 students and teachers in the district have quarantined. It’s a lot to keep up with. “I have spreadsheets for everything,” Hasley said. Vision screenings, health education, sick students. All those tasks school nurses handle during normal times are still on their to-do lists. So in this pandemic, Hasley works extra 30 MARCH 2021
ARKANSAS TIMES
based pieces. I am pro-vaccine, yes. But I respect that everybody has freedom to choose, especially with something they’re just learning about.” Her handholding extends beyond staff, to parents and students, too. Tending to the anxiety and loneliness pandemic protocols bring on can be a heartbreaker. And so Hasley, along with the two other school nurses who tend the students and staff in the Arkadelphia School District, offer encouragement, affirmation and reassurance. “Honestly I think that quarantine does start to wear on the students. The older students especially,” Hasley said. “When it’s a minimum of 10 days and up to 14 days, that’s a lot of school time missed. And for this age group, it’s a lot of social time missed.” A silver lining of universal virtual instruction for all Arkansas public school students in the spring of 2020 is that children who used to
activity, like art or music, every day for a week, rather than rotate through all of them each week. “We’re trying to keep classes together so if there is exposure in a group we’re not exposing more children than we need to,” Hasley explained. Each teacher is loaded down with cleaning supplies for the classroom. Hand-sanitizing stations cap hallways. Water fountains are taped off. Instead, students are provided with bottles for the new airport-style touch-free filling stations. Lockers will stay locked this school year to minimize students’ time in crowded hallways. School custodians are adding “biotech engineer” to their job description now that they’re called on to operate leaf blower-like sanitizing sprayers after hours. “I think every parent has some, I don’t want to say fear, but a little trepidation about school during a pandemic,” Hasley said. “It helps to know everyone is doing their best.”