SC parents have short window to decide on virtual school — if they have a choice
As COVID-19 cases continue to rise in South Carolina, some Midlands parents will have to decide soon whether their children will be learning face-to-face this school year or go virtual. Other parents won’t have that option available at all.
Lexington 1 sent an email to parents this week asking how many would sign up to a virtual offering for kindergarten through fifth grade. The district in central Lexington County currently doesn’t have a virtual option for elementary school students, and the number of responses it receives by 5 p.m. Friday will decide if there are enough interested parents to offer one this year.
“We apologize for this short timeframe, but we must know your choice quickly so we can staff the online classrooms and prepare the teachers, staff and students before the first day of school,” district communications director Kathryn McPhail wrote in an email to parents Monday.
The school district cites a rise in interest in virtual learning as cases of COVID-19 continue to rise, amid lagging vaccination rates and the spread of the highly contagious delta variant. This week, Prisma Health Children’s Hospital announced it had hit patient capacity because of a rise in respiratory illnesses among young people who are not yet eligible for a coronavirus vaccine.
Lexington 1 also says “state mandates limit our safety mitigation strategies.” Many schools started the 2020-21 school year either partly or entirely online, but districts steadily moved back toward in-person learning throughout the year. In April, the S.C. Legislature required all schools to offer face-to-face instruction five days a week.
In the upcoming school year, districts in South Carolina are limited in how many students can sign up for virtual instruction. No more than 5% of a district’s students can be allowed into a virtual program in 2021-22, thanks to a proviso slipped into the state budget that went into effect July 1. For every student allowed into the virtual classroom over that threshold, the district could lose almost half of its per pupil state funding for that pupil, according to the S.C. Department of Education.
That’s curbed the offerings of some districts. Two smaller Midlands districts — Lexington 3 and Lexington 4 — will not offer an online option at all this school year.
“There were very few families who expressed interest in continuing the virtual program this school year,” says the COVID-19 guidance page on the website of Lexington 4, which serves the Swansea-Gaston area. “Additionally, the SC General Assembly passed restrictions for virtual programs in the upcoming year which limit our ability to effectively serve students remotely.
“Due to these factors, we will not be able to offer full-time virtual learning for students for the 2021-2022 school year,” the district says. “Virtual learning programs are available through the state’s charter school districts.”
Lexington 3, in the Batesburg-Leesville area, will also not offer a virtual option. “However, we will continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation and adapt our plans accordingly, if needed,” schools spokeswoman Mackenzie Taylor said.
The larger Lexington-Richland 5 district — in the Chapin-Irmo area — is offering a virtual option for all students in first through 12th grades this year. A school spokesperson couldn’t say how many students had signed up for virtual through Wednesday, but estimated the number to be in the hundreds.
While students will be able to switch from virtual to face-to-face once the school year starts, LR5 will limit new admissions to stop what spokeswoman Laura McElveen called the “revolving door” the district saw last year as case numbers fluctuated and COVID-19 restrictions changed.
In its email to parents, Lexington 1 said students would be required to stay in the virtual program through the end of the semester in January. Some arts, music, physical education and language immersion programs also won’t be available through virtual.
