Top SC schools official urges return to in-person classes for K-5 students and more

South Carolina’s top education official is urging superintendents throughout the state to resume in-person classes for students “who need it the most,” including all students in kindergarten through fifth grade.

Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman said in a letter to district superintendents that schools should allow face-to-face learning for K-5 students as well as those who: have disabilities, are not native English speakers, are homeless or in foster care, have unreliable internet connection or who are “academically delayed.”

“While many students and their families have chosen virtual options and are able to successfully navigate this new instructional environment, others are struggling and desperately need a return to face to face learning as quickly as possible,” Spearman said in the letter.

Spearman’s letter, which went to all school superintendents in the state, is not a mandate, but rather a recommendation. Groups such as young students, special education students and homeless students rely more on services schools provide and have an increased need for in-person education, Spearman said in the letter.

“These student populations encompass those who are learning the integral building blocks of their educational futures, including the fundamentals of reading, which simply cannot be taught well virtually as well as those that rely on our public school system for wrap-around and supplemental supports,” Spearman said.