Lexington-Richland 5 board reverses, moves high and middle school to hybrid plan
Lexington-Richland 5 will move middle and high school students back to a two-day-per-week “hybrid” schedule, after a board vote at a special meeting on Wednesday. Elementary schools will stay on a four-day schedule for the rest of the month.
Students in seventh through 12th grade could shift to a hybrid schedule as early as Thursday, although Superintendent Christina Melton said Wednesday evening administrators may no longer have enough time to make the change that soon. Instead, students will resume a hybrid schedule on Monday.
Under the hybrid plan, students attend school two days a week and learn remotely three days.
The shift will last until the district’s winter break begins Dec. 21. The district will hold all virtual classes for all schools from Dec. 16 to Dec. 18 to allow for pre-break contact tracing.
Board chairwoman Jan Hammond said “I hope and pray this will be a short compromise” before the district resumes its four-day class schedule, she said Wednesday.
“If we were voting on what we think is best for the kids, I would keep us at four days,” she said. “But we need a compromise to give to these stressed-out teachers.”
Board member Nikki Gardner opposed the shift, saying it wouldn’t act as a “magic bullet” to stop rising COVID numbers.
“In January, I think we’ll either be hybrid or all-virtual,” she said.
But board member Rebecca Blackburn Hines said the vote was “not about what causes the least disruption, but what does the most good long-term.”
Board member Catherine Huddle also proposed the district cancel or cut in half any sports or other extracurricular events at the effected schools during the same time period, but that motion was defeated 4-3, with others arguing the focus of the shift to hybrid was the danger of staff shortages in school.
Melton told the board her staff would be watching data “all day, throughout the day” to monitor any changes in the pandemic’s impact.
“I care about our reputation,” Melton said, “and what we do will determine if we can recruit people, retain people, or if people will choose to leave.”
New data presented to the board Monday showed a steady rise in student quarantines from 273 on Nov. 12, to 396 on Nov. 19 and 532 on Nov. 24, before the number dropped to 487 on Dec. 1.
The Lexington-Richland 5 school board met Monday to consider Melton’s request to revert to a two-day hybrid schedule for students in seventh to 12th grades. But after a three-hour meeting, the board ultimately adjourned without taking any action, leaving the current four-day-a-week schedule in place.
Then on Tuesday, multiple teachers and staff called out at Chapin, Dutch Fork and Irmo high schools, leading all three schools to switch to a virtual learning platform early Tuesday. The board chair and multiple teachers who spoke to The State described it as a protest of the district’s current re-entry plan.
Wednesday was a previously-scheduled virtual learning day in the district, and teachers and students were scheduled to return to class on Thursday.
On Tuesday, school board member Ken Loveless, who has argued for a return to in-person instruction, announced on Facebook that he participated in Monday’s meeting remotely because he’s been diagnosed with COVID-19. Loveless called into Wednesday’s meeting as well.
“Hopefully, my behavior did not reflect too badly upon the board,” Loveless wrote, noting he had received “skads of emails” noting his physical absence. “If it did, I apologize.”
Ahead of the board meeting Wednesday, several high school students organized a protest outside the Lexington-Richland 5 office.
Around 100 students and teachers stood outside the school board meeting to advocate for the hybrid school model and support Melton’s proposal, emphasizing social distancing and keeping masks on in the crowd. Many protesters carried signs that read, “We deserve better” and “Support Melton’s plan science not politics.”
Before the board meeting, the crowd gathered outside the windows of the meeting room and chanted “hybrid until safe.” Melton acknowledged them at the start of the meeting, opening the blinds to the meeting room’s windows and speaking directly to them.
“This board supports you,” she assured them. “This board is working hard for you.”
Reporter Laurryn Salem contributed.
This story was originally published December 2, 2020 at 6:41 PM.
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