Opting out? Here’s how many Horry County students are removing masks in schools
Almost a third of Horry County Schools students across all grade levels will attend school without wearing masks after their parents opted out of the requirement, school officials said Monday.
The data comes less than a week after South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster issued an executive order allowing parents to decide whether their children should continue wearing masks in school.
Velna Allen, HCS director of student services, said more than 10,000 students enrolled in the district’s brick-and-mortar schools — about 28% of the district — had completed and turned in the necessary opt-out form. Allen detailed the numbers during Monday’s school board meeting.
The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control developed the form last week for parents and guardians to sign following McMaster’s order, and HCS Superintendent Rick Maxey emphasized Monday that those forms must be returned unaltered to be accepted.
Maxey said several seemingly contradicting announcements from state and federal officials regarding the need for face coverings in schools created confusion. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday that people who are fully vaccinated don’t need to wear masks in most situations, except for public transit, healthcare settings or where local and state restrictions still exist.
But school officials plan to follow the governor’s executive order and request that staff wishing to work without a mask also submit a signed form to the district.
The student opt-outs, which were compiled as of Monday afternoon, included 5,117 in elementary school, 2,514 in middle school and 2,729 in high school.
Allen noted that the district set a deadline for parents to submit those forms by midnight Monday, though she acknowledged they’d continue accepting them in the coming days and weeks. Teachers will need to see in the online student tracking platform which students have completed those forms, she added.
As part of the district’s response to the executive order, HCS previously announced that it would allow students enrolled in in-preson classes to complete the semester from home.
As of Monday afternoon, 584 students had chosen that path, mostly high school students, according to Allen.
All schools within the district are currently operating in-person classes five days per week, and there are 23 active cases of COVID-19 among HCS students and staff, according to the district’s online case dashboard.
