SC education department will require masks to be worn on school buses this fall

All South Carolina public K-12 students will be required to wear masks on school buses once school starts, a top official said Monday.

The mask requirement applies to students, bus drivers and faculty/staff, S.C. Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman said in a news release.

Spearman is also increasing the amount of students who are recommended to be on a school bus. Districts that follow the mask policy and conduct proper cleaning and “mitigation” strategies can also safely fill buses to 67% capacity, the news release said.

This contradicts previous advice given by a state task force Spearman led, called AccelerateEd, which said school buses shouldn’t be filled past 50 percent capacity to allow proper social distancing.

The department changed this recommendation after recent conversations with the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, health officials, pediatricians and transportation officials, said education department spokesman Ryan Brown.

The department also approved its first round of school reopening plans. The six school districts whose reopening plans will be approved are Allendale County School District, Anderson School District Five, Berkeley County School District, Saluda County Schools, Spartanburg County School District Two and York Two School District.

Of the six plans approved, four of them offer a five day per week, in-person option for at least some students, according to the release. The other two plans have online only options as well as “hybrid” options that offer in-class instruction less than five days a week. No virtual-only plans have been approved so far.

Schools don’t necessarily need to follow guidance given by S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster earlier this month that says parents should be able to choose between sending students to five-day, face-to-face classes starting after Labor Day and virtual classes, the department has said.

Given that the department has approved two “hybrid” plans, it is showing some independence from McMaster. However, the majority of the plans approved thus far meet McMaster’s guidance.

The department has its own criteria for approving school reopening plans. That criteria includes offering a virtual-only option and an in-person or hybrid option for students, according to a July 17 memo from Spearman.

Schools aren’t necessarily required to have an in-person option available on the first day of school, Brown said. Rather, schools must have a specific date in mind for when in-person classes will be offered, Brown said.

The AccelerateEd task force had originally called for schools to be online-only if DHEC considers the virus spread to be “high” in a a given area. As of Monday, the overwhelming majority of the state was still listed as areas with “high” spread.

Asked why the department differed from AccelerateEd’s recommendations on when to return to in-person classes, Brown said schools need to consider other factors “more than just the spread of the virus for decision making.”

This story was originally published July 27, 2020 at 4:23 PM.