Virtual or in-person? Horry parents chose long before COVID surge. Now, they can’t switch
When Horry County Schools (HCS) parents chose whether their children would be going back to school in person or opting for the virtual option, coronavirus cases were calming down, vaccinations were ramping up and things were generally looking up.
That was in April. Now, four months later, the school year has started, and more than 150 students have caught the virus as it surges in Horry County.
Despite a vastly different public health landscape, the district won’t allow parents to change the decision they made in April.
Last year, thousands of students chose the virtual option as the pandemic pressed on and vaccinations weren’t as widely available. This year, around 1,600 students are enrolled in the virtual program, and the district wants that number to stay the same.
“While we empathize with parents, HCS will not open enrollment into the K-12 HCS Virtual program,” district spokesperson Lisa Bourcier told The Sun News.
Some parents say that decision has been detrimental to their students’ mental or physical health, and it’s affected their view on HCS as a whole. Two Myrtle Beach area moms told The Sun News they’re nearly certain they won’t enroll their children in Horry County Schools again.
Alexandra Stewart’s daughter attended Myrtle Beach Elementary School and took classes online all of last year. She got good grades, and she didn’t mind virtual school, her mom said.
This year, Stewart was looking forward to the same format. The coronavirus situation was worsening in the area, and her daughter was preparing to be a witness in a trial they’ve been awaiting for years. So, virtual school was the right option for her physical and mental health, Stewart said.
But she missed the April deadline.
Due to a computer issue, Stewart missed an email advising parents of the deadline, she said. And now, HCS won’t allow her to enroll her daughter in the virtual option because she missed the deadline.
“I was devastated because I was convinced the virtual option would be available,” Stewart said.
She said she’s had trouble getting ahold of school administrators to talk about the situation, and now she says she has “no options.”
Stewart also had concerns about the school’s safety precautions, especially the fact that masks aren’t required in HCS buildings. Due to a proviso from the state, school districts can’t require masks.
The deadline for choosing virtual or in-person classes was April 30, when coronavirus cases were falling and vaccinations were rising. The Delta variant, which is highly contagious and believed to be responsible for the majority of new COVID infections across South Carolina and the U.S., wasn’t a part of the conversation yet.
“I think it should be the utmost importance to reconsider the virtual program due to that information not being available at the time they made the deadline,” Stewart said.
The situation has soured Stewart’s thoughts on HCS as a whole, to the point where she says she won’t let her daughter set foot in a district school again. She’s looking at other options in which her daughter can participate in virtual or home school classes for this school year and beyond.
Allowing parents to switch their students’ instruction method would cause logistical problems for the district, Bourcier said. Teacher assignments and schedule changes would be derailed as a result.
“While re-opening enrollment to the virtual school may satisfy a few, it will without question disrupt the majority of students and families who did not change their minds after the deadline,” Bourcier wrote in an email to The Sun News.
While Stewart wanted to get her child into virtual school, other parents want to go the other direction. Heidi Hargabus has a son in seventh grade in Horry County Schools who wants to be back in the classroom, despite the initial April decision that he would take his classes online.
“He wanted the socialization more than anything,” Hargabus said. “He missed his friends.”
Hargabus also said she feels the district doesn’t prioritize the students in the virtual program as much as they should, and that the students in the traditional brick-and-mortar setting are getting more of attention.
“The brick-and-mortar [students] are their first priority, because that’s who they see on a daily basis,” Hargabus said. “But as far as virtual, they don’t matter, that’s my opinion.”
Hargabus said she’s 90% sure she won’t enroll her child in HCS again, and most of her decision was driven by how the district handled the virtual school option.
