Act 237, known as the LEARNS Act, added a requirement for current 9th grade students who are set to graduate in 2026-27 and beyond to complete a minimum of 75 hours of documented community service prior to graduation.
Mountain Home Superintendent Allyson Dewey spoke with KTLO, Classic Hits and The Boot News to discuss the requirements and how the district plans to implement the new requirement.
Listen:
AUDIO TRANSCRIPT
We have received some guidance for that community service requirement for graduation, and that is, of course, from our pursuant to Act 237, you know, which was Arkansas Learns. It is our current ninth grade students that are set to graduate in 26-27 school years. The majority would graduate in May of ’27.
That’s who this requirement is for. They are required to complete 75 community service hours before graduation. So we are already, we have a task force in place that is making sure we’re prepared to get those 15 hours for our 9th graders this year, and I have no concern that we’re going to be able to get that done.
There are going to be some opportunities if students want to do more than that 15, or they would like to do that 15 in school approved locations for community service. They can do that. And that’s where the flexibility of this commissioner’s memo comes in, is that kids are going to have an opportunity they could get most of their hours in 9th and 10th grade, but we want our families not to be concerned.
We will be having information sessions, FAQ documents out for families. We intend on helping. We’re helping our kids get those hours while they are on campus, because that I know has been brought up, that some of our students don’t drive, how are they supposed to get community service hours?
Um, we’re going to help them get that taken care of while they’re at school this year.
Dewey states the task force will have a plan to make sure the district exceeds the requirement.
Listen:
AUDIO TRANSCRIPT
So do things offsite during the school day with our advisory classes. You know, we have areas that do need cleaned up around our community and that’s something kids could do or making Christmas cards for some of our nursing homes or canned food drive. Those are just some things off the top of my head.
Like I said, our task force includes our some counselors, Dr. Dana Brown, Mr. Kyle McCarran, who is the principal at the junior high. I can assure you that they will have a fantastic plan ready to go for our families and our students to make sure that we are probably not just meeting this requirement, but exceeding it.
Organizations interested in helping should reach out to the district.
Listen:
AUDIO TRANSCRIPT
If we have a community organization that is interested in helping us fulfill some of these requirements, um, you know, by providing places for our kids to volunteer, please just reach out to either Mountain Home Junior High, I believe that would be the place to start, Mountain Home Junior High, or the central office and we’ll get you in touch with the folks that you need to visit with.
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