Richland 2 shakes off McMaster’s guidance, keeps original reopening plan

The S.C. Midlands’ largest school district is pressing forward with its reopening plans despite school reopening guidance from Gov. Henry McMaster.

Richland 2’s school reopening plan is still based on the three-phase reopening program recommended by the S.C. Department of Education’s AccelerateEd task force.

The plan calls for schools to be held online only so long as the coronavirus spread in Richland County remains “high,” a determination made by the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control. Right now, all but one county, Marlboro, are considered to have “high” coronavirus spread.

There will be two options for virtual classes, according to a presentation shown at the board meeting. The first option will be an improved version of the eLearning format schools used in the spring. The second option, called R2eSchool, will be a year-long program where students have a prescribed schedule where attendance is mandatory, documents show.

Even if classes are held virtually, there will still be some face-to-face interaction between students and teachers, said Assistant Superintendent James Ann Lynch Sheley, who has been overseeing the school reopening plan for the district.

Conversely, students who are not healthy enough or comfortable enough returning to in-person classes will still have the virtual learning option even when the coronavirus spread begins to slow, Sheley said.

“Our plan calls for offering eLearning all year long,” Sheley said.

“We want nothing more than for our children to come back to school when it is safe for faculty, staff and students,” Sheley said.

If DHEC drops that rating to “low,” the plan calls for students to resume in-person classes five days per week, but with personal protective equipment and cleaning protocols. If the rating is “medium,” some classes will be online and others will be in person.

The school administration decided on the plan and sent it to the S.C. Department of Education last week without a board vote, said Superintendent Baron Davis. The reason why is because once the board votes on something, any changes need to go through a separate board vote, which could waste valuable time in responding to coronavirus, Davis said.

As of Tuesday, Richland 2 has not declared whether it will begin classes virtually, online or a mix — that’s decided by the DHEC coronavirus spread numbers, Davis said.

Richland 2 is also undecided on when classes will begin — and is leaning toward Aug. 31 — but it could also be Sept. 2 or Sept. 8 Davis said.

McMaster’s guidance, given at a press conference last week, called for schools to reopen in-person classes five days per week immediately after Labor Day regardless of COVID 19 spread. The guidance, which is not mandatory, also called for schools to offer students an option to learn online only. The guidance created confusion as schools had already worked out most of their plan details.

“We’re all in a bit of a quagmire with the state superintendent and the governor mandating things,” said board member Amelia McKie.

School reopening plans don’t necessarily need to meet guidance given by McMaster in order to be approved by the S.C. Education Department, an official said last week. Some school districts, such as Jasper County schools, are planning on beginning the year in August with online-only courses. Rock Hill schools are defying both McMaster’s and DHEC’s recommendations by offering A/B scheduling, which means some students would receive in-person education on Mondays and Tuesdays and others would receive it on Thursdays and Fridays.

There are several school reopening plans in the S.C. Midlands that come close to McMaster’s recommendations. Those are Lexington-Richland 5’s final plan and and Lexington 2’d draft plan. Lexington-Richland 5 will offer both fully online and fully in-person classes, but will start Aug. 19, which is earlier than McMaster’s recommendations. Lexington 2 is planning to start until after Labor Day, but will offer a “hybrid” mix of in-person and online classes.

This story was originally published July 21, 2020 at 8:07 PM.