SC senator stands by D- grade for virtual education despite teacher backlash
The chairman of the S.C. Senate Education upset many teachers with his recent comments advocating for schools to offer in-person learning, but he’s standing by his statements, while noting he’s willing to admit it if he’s proven wrong.
Sen. Greg Hembree, R-Horry, stood with Gov. Henry McMaster last week during a press conference where they and other lawmakers urged public school districts to offer a full-week, in-person option for students and parents.
“The virtual learning experiment that we have been engaged in the last semester of school this past year got an ‘A+’ for effort, there was a tremendous amount of work, dedication by administrators, teachers,” Hembree said. “Unfortunately in result, that effort gets a ‘D-.’”
The senator’s comments quickly drew condemnation by teacher advocacy groups, including SC for Ed, which released a statement critical of Hembree for “at best — being careless with his statements and — at worst — deliberately misleading the public in a time of worldwide crisis.”
Linda Perry, a teacher at Ocean Bay Middle School who’s taught in Horry County more than 18 years, said the D- rating felt demeaning and degrading because she knows she’s never worked harder than she did after schools were forced to switch to remote learning to reduce the spread of coronavirus.
She added that the A plus he gave for effort didn’t mitigate the harmfulness of his overall comments.
“When we assign grades, they’re based on data,” Perry said. “We take into account the limitations of our students.”
Speaking with The Sun News Monday during a Facebook Live interview, Hembree said his assessment was informed by conversations with parents, teachers and students, in addition to a study published that projects students lost, on average, a year of mathematics learning and a semester of English language arts while schools were closed to in-person learning.
That “COVID-19 slide” study, published by NWEA, an organization that produces student assessment testing, uses national data based on typical student regressions during summer breaks and doesn’t specifically account for any actual recent data from students in South Carolina, where assessment testing was suspended due to the pandemic.
Hembree admitted that the D minus grade was really just his way of describing the lack of success he saw with eLearning and not based on any specific quantification, but he didn’t regret the way he said it, despite the backlash.
“Just because you work hard on something in good faith doesn’t mean it’s going to be successful,” he said. “I don’t think there’s any real shame in that, but we have to be honest about it. We can’t just say it works when it’s not working.”
Ultimately, he just wants school districts to remain open to the possibility of reopening full time, so that they’re prepared either way. He mentioned some school districts refusing to consider in-person learning this semester, but it’s unclear what districts he was discussing.
“It may be a month and a half from now, I’m saying (returning to in-person learning) is really a bad idea,” Hembree said. “I’m willing to admit that my guess ... informed guess on what we should do was wrong, but I’m going to stand by it if I think I was right.”
Ryan Brown, a spokesman for the S.C. Department of Education, wrote in an email that districts must submit a plan that includes a virtual option and in-person option, when it’s safe to do so, in order to gain state approval.
Health recommendations
The press conference involving McMaster and Hembree — which, notably, didn’t include S.C. Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman — flew in the face of guidelines set out by a committee of state health and education officials, which recommend virtual learning in areas where COVID-19 activity is high, a hybrid model where activity is medium and full, in-person learning where it’s low.
Hembree said the information that committee was using to make those recommendations is outdated, pointing out that a recent study suggests children transmit the virus less effectively than adults.
When asked about that same study, from South Korea researchers, finding that those between the ages of 10 and 19 are just as likely to spread the virus as adults, Hembree said the priority should be getting the youngest children back in school, and he could be in favor of a plan opening elementary schools five days per week with a modified attendance option for older students.
Perry, who is also a single mother, agreed with potentially prioritizing the return of younger students, maybe spreading them around school buildings to keep them in smaller groups and make transmission less likely.
She said she’s glad she’s not the one making decisions because, as a parent, she knows there’s no way she’ll be happy with any decision since her child missing out on socializing with other students or being put at risk.
“There’s nothing we want more (as teachers) than to build relationships with our kids ... but we can’t be asked to make sacrifices of our health or the health of our families,” Perry said.
While teachers and school staff may soon be asked to return to work, their salaries are currently frozen as a continuing resolution passed by the legislature instead of a new budget in light of coronavirus restrictions suspended annual STEP increases until a new budget is passed.
Hembree said he’s prepared to advocate for resuming those annual increases when the Senate returns in September, but he doubts an additional salary increase that was previously being discussed will be on the table due to an anticipated drop in revenue projections.
He also committed to ensuring all necessary costs associated with returning to in-person learning will be fully funded, though he’s hopeful federal CARES Act funding will cover the majority of those exceptional costs.
Substitute teaching
The criticism Hembree is facing isn’t the first time he’s drawn the ire of teacher advocacy groups. Last year, when SC for Ed held a rally in Columbia, he decided to come back to Horry County to serve as a substitute teacher.
Hembree told The Sun News on Monday that he hadn’t given much thought to fulfilling that role again once schools reopen, but he’d be willing to do so, even if it meant filling in for a teacher on medical leave due to COVID-19 exposure.
“I’m not going to advocate for something and not be willing to carry it out myself,” he said.
Sarah Brown, an HCS teacher, said the classroom where Hembree served as a substitute was her seventh-grade social studies class at Myrtle Beach Middle School.
She emphasized that, while she supported the rally, she didn’t attend, and actually took a personal day to ensure everything was ready for the coming school musical, and she let Hembree know that she would be close by to help if he needed it.
Brown said she was troubled by someone in his position leaving Columbia during the rally, and she felt it was a publicity stunt. When she returned to the classroom, several students told her the senator seemed nice, but most said he seemed fake.
“One student told me he was just here to take a picture with kids who don’t look like him,” she said. “That stuck with me since it happened and broke my heart.”
Brown also noted that Hembree bought a ticket to the school musical, and the students performing were really excited, but she was collecting tickets at the front door, and he never showed.
This story was originally published July 20, 2020 at 6:55 PM.
