These Horry County middle schools can soon open in-person full time, district announces
Horry County Schools is continuing its push to bring students back to the classroom, announcing Thursday that numerous middle schools will reopen full time next week.
Myrtle Beach, Socastee and Forestbrook middle schools will begin face-to-face instruction five days per week on Feb. 25, according to a news release.
The district just welcomed back all elementary school students five days per week on Feb. 8, and HCS officials noted that middle and high school reopenings would be announced on a rolling basis as plexiglass barrier installations were completed.
Daryl Brown, the district’s chief support services officer, recently told the board that March 15 is the projected completion date for plexiglass barriers in every school. Until then, other schools remain operating under the hybrid model, with students allowed to attend in-person classes two days per week.
Per its reopening plan guidelines, HCS will notify parents and students at least five days ahead of attendance schedule changes, unless an emergency necessitates a more immediate alteration. None of these changes impact students enrolled in HCS Virtual, though more than 80 percent of the district’s students are currently enrolled in the brick-and-mortar option.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently released guidelines for reopening schools, but most school districts, including HCS, currently qualify as “red zones” with high levels of COVID-19 transmission. The guidelines don’t discuss plexiglass barriers, which the district purchased based on guidance from the S.C. Department of Education but have proven controversial among many parents and staff.
Advocates for reopening the schools now have pointed to studies, including one conducted by Medical University of South Carolina, that suggest in-person learning doesn’t contribute heavily to coronavirus community spread.
HCS has identified more than 1,800 COVID-19 cases among students and staff since the beginning of the school year and 160 cases currently, according to its online dashboard.
