Back in class just weeks before school ends, SC district sees unintended consequences
Two Greenville County School Board members have pushed for months for schools to return to “normal.” No masks. Full-time in-person.
Tuesday night, they learned there were some unintended consequences since thousands of Greenville County students returned to school, thanks to South Carolina’s new law requiring schools to offer full-time in-person instruction to all students.
Greenville County high school students — the last group in the county to be operating on a hybrid online and in-person learning schedule — returned to schools full-time on Monday, as did younger students who opted to leave full-time virtual instruction.
Greenville County was one of the last districts in the state to offer in-person, full-time instruction as COVID-19 restrictions have loosened.
Superintendent Burke Royster told the school board Tuesday that because classrooms in the high schools cannot accommodate 6 feet distance between students and the plexiglass shields have been removed, if one student tests positive for COVID-19, at least four and as many as eight students will have to be quarantined.
This close to the end of the year, that could mean students missing senior events and even graduation.
Board member Derek Lewis said his neighbor, a valedictorian, asked him if that means she would miss giving her speech should that happen to her.
Royster had a simple answer: Yes.
He said the district would make plans for anyone in that situation to give a speech virtually.
“It’s an unfortunate circumstance, but it’s a circumstance beyond our control,” Royster said.
Royster has said repeatedly he did not want to offer full-time instruction in high schools until it could be done safely.
Until Monday, high school students were attending classes in-person 75% of the time. Parents still have the option of keeping their children on that schedule.
Last week, in order to fit all students back in classrooms, Greenville County staff members removed plexiglass barriers separating desks and organized desks in rows front to back to minimize face-to-face contact.
Students still must wear masks in schools. The desks in high schools are separated by 3 feet.
Royster and board member Angie Mosley sparred over whether plexiglass was effective. Royster said it was the combination of masks, social distance and plexiglass that was effective in fighting the spread of coronavirus. Mosley said she had been told children have to wear masks all day, even outside.
Royster said students take off masks when they eat, are outside for physical education and any time a teacher feels it is safe, such as a student giving a report in front of the class at a distance.
Greenville has moved out of the “high” COVID-19 incidence rate to “moderate.” Given that change, board member Sarah Dulin said she wondered whether the board could decide on its own to ignore the quarantine requirements.
“I would never advise you not to follow a requirement that has the effect of law,” Royster said.
“It’s not a state law,” Dulin said after several back and forth comments about the board acting on its own.
“It has the effect of law,” Royster said.
Dulin responded, “Some of us would not care if we took responsibility.”
Royster told the board students now have a higher risk of contracting COVID-19 than the general population because many adults have been vaccinated, and variants are affecting young people.
Greenville has 73,000 students with a small percentage older than 16 and eligible for the vaccine, Royster said.
Mosley asked if Royster had a recommendation for next school year.
Royster said it was too early to say.
Mosley said, “In your opinion, in your mind, at what point does the burden shift back to the individual student?”
There was a long silence before Royster answered.
He said when the district has done all it can to keep everyone safe.
