Horry County Schools delays start date amid uncertainty returning to in-person classes
Horry County Schools will delay the start of its 2020-2021 school year three weeks to Sept. 8, after the school board voted to approve the change Monday night.
Chairman Ken Richardson had announced last week he would recommend the delay — school was initially set to resume Aug. 17 — in order to give the board and district staff more time to make decisions amid the coronavirus pandemic regarding a potential return to in-person classes.
During Monday’s special-called meeting, which occurred virtually, the board unanimously approved the chairman’s recommendation. The last day of the school year will now be June 16, 2021.
Some K-8 students and teachers will actually return Aug. 20-21 and Aug. 24-26 for state-mandated LEAP days, which stands for Learn, Evaluate, Analyze and Prepare. Superintendent Rick Maxey explained the students participating in those extra days, which focus on English Language Arts and Math, are determined by each district based on needs, including students facing learning gaps, those who had low engagement during remote learning and students with special needs.
The district planned the LEAD days ahead of planned staff development training days, which will occur Aug. 27- Sept. 4, because he didn’t want any staff left out of training, which will help them plan for distance learning.
South Carolina public schools have been closed since March 16 to prevent the spread of coronavirus, and state education officials have been meeting regularly this summer to discuss ways to safely reopen.
Reopening recommendations
Most of Monday’s meeting was spent discussing current recommendations from a district reopening task force comprised of adminstrators, teachers, parents and students. The task force was broken down into five subcomittees focusing on different areas: public health and safety, school operations and logistics, teaching and learning, equity and family needs, and social-emotional health.
Maxey, emphasizing that recommendations appear to change daily and flexibility is going to be key moving forward, explained that the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control has metrics examining the presence of COVID-19 spread in each county that will guide when in-person learning can occur.
Horry County, along with almost every other county in South Carolina currently rates as high for virus activity, which would mean all instruction will be held remotely. Counties with medium activity will have hybrid schedules with students split into two groups, and each group going to school two days per week with distance learning the other three days. Counties with low activity will return to full, face-to-face instruction.
Boone Myrick, the district’s chief academics officer, noted that a full-time virtual school will be an available option for all students, but participation will require a commitment of at least a semester. She told the board that their next priority is to determine how many students participating in that option in order to understand staffing needs.
When students are in school, recommendations from the committees included spacing desks six feet apart where feasible, suspending the use of water fountains and providing hand sanitizer stations throughout the building.
Students and staff will also be given a daily checklist of potential signs they have COVID-19 and asked not to come in if they are symptomatic, and if someone tests positive, those with close contact to that person will be mandated to stay home for a certain length of time. Each school will also have a designated area for symptomatic students to quarantine.
Velna Allen, chief officer of student services, noted that a lot of discussion centered around the use of face masks or other coverings, and the current recommendation would require teachers, staff and visitors to wear masks while highly encouraging students to wear them.
Board member Janice Morreale, who said she’s had COVID-19, was critical of that recommendation for students, noting that most adults haven’t worn face coverings in situations when it’s only recommended.
Richardson said he’s received many emails from parents telling him they wouldn’t send their children to school if face masks were required, and he wondered whether that might be beneficial since that would reduce the number of students present.
The Myrtle Beach area is currently considered a “hot spot” for the virus by state health officials with increasing coronavirus cases, deaths and hospitalizations. Most local governments have responded by requiring masks to be worn in public places.
Parent/teacher surveys
Earlier this summer, the district sent surveys to parents and staff about reopening preferences, and responses to those surveys were discussed Monday.
More than 21,000 parents responded to the survey, and about 70 percent preferred a hybrid schedule — which would allow some in-person learning days — instead of all distance learning if the district is unable to return to full face-to-face instruction. More than 50 percent also responded that they wouldn’t be allowing their children to ride the bus to school.
More than 4,000 HCS staff responded to a separate survey, and their priorities for returning to schools included the availability of coronavirus testing, providing safety protocol training and requiring masks. About 65 percent of staff replied that they’d have no concerns about wearing a face covering, though more than 60 percent expressed concerns with the district’s ability to provide adequate social distancing.
About 25 percent of teachers responded that they were facing circumstances that might prevent them from returning to school, including lack of child care, a preexisting condition or caring for an at-risk family member, but only 11 total respondents said they weren’t planning on returning next year.
Pediatricians and politicians have called for schools to return to in-person learning — President Donald Trump has even threatened to withhold federal funding from schools that remain closed — while many teachers have expressed concerns for their safety and the safety of children.
SC for Ed, a statewide teacher-led advocacy group, published a letter Wednesday stating it won’t support fully reopening schools until COVID-19 cases begin to decline and all state health recommendations inside school buildings are met.
That same group found that more than 40 percent of school staff say they have an underlying condition that makes it more dangerous for them to contract coronavirus, according to survey results from more than 7,000 respondents.
When schools were forced to close in the spring, HCS quickly transitioned to remote eLearning, providing access to an electronic device to the majority of students who needed one, but there are still nearly 450 students in the district that teachers and school officials have been unable to reach since the closure, according to survey results released last week by the S.C. Department of Education.
This story was originally published July 13, 2020 at 10:21 PM.
