Richland One students can head back to school soon — twice a week
A day after Richland School District Two announced plans to start bringing students back into the classrom this month amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Richland One followed suit Wednesday, with superintendent Craig Witherspoon sending an email to parents detailing plans for a hybrid approach starting in the coming weeks.
In the email, Witherspoon announced that starting the week of Oct. 26, all students from prekindergarten to 12th grade will be able to return to school for two days a week under “Phase 2” of the district’s reopening plan.
During the week prior to that, starting Oct. 19, children in prekindergarten through second grade will go into school for one day of in-person instruction, Witherspoon said.
Some children with disabilities will be allowed to return to classrooms starting Oct. 12, depending on their personalized education plans. Parents who don’t want their children returning to classrooms can still apply for the district’s “Virtual School Program” of entirely online classes.
The shift to some days of in-person instruction means every district in Lexington and Richland counties will now offer some form of face-to-face learning, though few are offering it five days a week like Gov. Henry McMaster has pushed for.
In making the shift, Witherspoon cited improving COVID-19 numbers in Richland County.
“We are pleased to see that mitigation strategies are now recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as one of the core indicators in making decisions about the return to school. We are also encouraged by the significant improvement in the health ratings for Richland County,” Witherspoon wrote.
In order to give teachers time to prepare for the shift to in-person classes, no virtual classes or eLearning will take place Oct. 15 and 16, Witherspoon added. More details will be announced “in the coming days,” Witherspoon said, including which two days students will go to school, how transportation will be handled and when further days of in-person learning will be added for younger students.
This story was originally published October 7, 2020 at 5:51 PM.
