SC is beginning to locate school children who went silent amid coronavirus pandemic

South Carolina is starting to locate many of the children whom schools have not heard from since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, state data show.

As of July 7, schools have been able to reach 5,654 more students than last month, in which schools reported being unable to reach a total of 16,085 students since in-person classes were closed on March 16, according to survey data and a previous article from The State.

“Many people have been identified through the meal program,” S.C. Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman told lawmakers at a Wednesday State House subcommittee meeting on children’s services and personal protective equipment (PPE). “They’re not turning in their homework but they’re coming out to pick up their meals.”

It’s important for schools to have contact with a student — especially while educators are working remotely during coronavirus — because it allows teachers to identify abuse, neglect, mental health issues and students who are falling behind in class.

Students have fallen off the grid for many reasons, including: students knowing they won’t be punished during the coronavirus for not completing assignments, poor internet connection, outdated contact information, sick relatives, language barriers and more, according to the S.C. Department of Education.

“I hope districts are hearing from us the importance of these students being contacted,” said S.C. Sen. Thomas Alexander, R-Oconee, who sits on the subcommittee.

Schools have been able to contact 98.7% of the 782,638 public school students throughout the state, but even when they can’t reach 1.3% of students, that still leaves over 10,000 students unaccounted for.

“We still have a lot of kids out there to find,” said S.C. Sen. Katrina Shealy, R-Lexington, who chairs the subcommittee.

Officials began keeping these data during the coronavirus pandemic, so it is unclear what percentage of students schools are normally unable to be in touch with.

However, it is clear that during a normal school year, students still struggle with showing up to class and with their home lives, according to data presented by Spearman.

For example, during a normal school year, more than 70,000 (roughly 10%) students statewide are listed as truant, meaning they missed three, consecutive unallowed days or five unallowed days total, Spearman said. Perhaps more concerning is the number of students who are considered homeless: 12,660 — roughly 1,000 of which are in Richland County, Spearman said.

Both Spearman and S.C. Sen. Dick Harpootlian, D-Richland, who sits on the committee, said they were “shocked” at the number of homeless children.

Tracking down students whom schools have not heard from involves multiple different methods and government agencies. At the school level, it involves calling, emailing and sending resource officers to a students’ last known address and checking a student’s social media account, according to the education department.

The S.C. Department of Social Services is beginning to collect data on which students schools haven’t heard from by asking each district to fill out a spreadsheet with the names and last known addresses of students, Connelly-Anne Ragley of DSS testified during the committee meeting.

DSS then cross-references the list of children in the agency’s care — such as the 4,235 children in foster care —to the list provided by the school districts so DSS can put the schools in touch with the children, Ragley said.

Children in poverty are especially prone to not being in touch with their schools, Kathy Maness, the executive director of the Palmetto State Teachers Association, testified before the committee. She cited a survey done by the teachers association that said teachers who teach the highest poverty students were two and a half times as likely to not have heard from students, she said.

One idea was to further incorporate law enforcement in tracking down students. While law enforcement agencies have received information about a student whom schools can’t reach, the child’s situation rarely rises to the level of criminal suspicion necessary to conduct a wellness check, Jarrod Bruder, the director of the South Carolina Sheriffs’ Association, testified before the subcommittee.

“We don’t know if there is neglect or abuse going on, and we can’t investigate until we get that call,” Bruder said.

S.C. Sen. Gerald Malloy, D-Darlington, encouraged law enforcement agencies to form a partnership between a school district and the local sheriff’s office.

“We’re not looking to make a case,” Malloy said. “We’re looking to find a child.”

“If the sheriff calls the superintendent they’re not going to turn them down,” Malloy said.