Horry Schools will continue hybrid, in-person learning despite ‘high’ COVID-19 spread
Horry County Schools will be continuing to operate on a hybrid schedule despite increasing local spread of the coronavirus.
The district made the announcement Thursday shortly after the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control weekly report identified Horry County with “high” COVID-19 spread for the second consecutive week.
“However, due to the low number of COVID-19 incidents directly affecting Horry County Schools, the District will continue to operate under the hybrid instructional model for the week of October 19, 2020,” HCS posted on its website.
The district’s COVID-19 case dashboard shows 128 cases have been confirmed among students and staff since it began tracking, while seven students and nine staff members have tested positive within the past week.
The DHEC report, based on the district’s approved reopening plan, is supposed to determine whether students can attend in-person classes. During the first month of the school year, the county had been in the medium category, allowing for a hybrid schedule, with students attending school in person twice per week. High spread means all learning must be remote, the reopening plan states.
But when last week’s DHEC report showed Horry County with high spread, the district instead announced it would make wait to make a final determination this week about schedules for the week of Oct. 19 with consideration for this week’s DHEC report.
Local coronavirus cases continued to increase this week with a two-week incidence rate of 280 cases per 100,000 residents and nearly 18 percent of those being tested receiving positive results.
HCS board chairman Ken Richardson suggested the board could consider altering the reopening plan to place a greater emphasis on cases specifically within the district, but the board isn’t scheduled to meet again until Monday.
“One thing that’s not changed is we want to keep everyone safe,” Richardson said last week, adding that if the board is going to make an error in judgment, they’re going to make it make it “on the side of safety.”
He told The Sun News Thursday morning that the decision about whether to follow the current plan or stay hybrid would be up to Superintendent Rick Maxey. The district noted in its announcement that Maxey would share additional information with the board Monday regarding mitigation efforts.
The S.C. Department of Education, which approved the district’s reopening plan, has offered support for the district continuing with its hybrid plan “given the mitigation strategies in place and the success of other districts offering face to face instruction in similar circumstances,” according to spokesman Ryan Brown.
HCS officials have engaged in early discussions about purchasing plexiglass to outfit students’ desks in an effort to return to full, in-person classes, but Maxey specified that process will take some time.
This story was originally published October 15, 2020 at 2:19 PM.
