Midlands schools see more teachers out for 3rd day. Teachers request board meeting
Midlands high schools continued to see teacher shortages on Friday after a week of faculty and staff calling out from work.
On Friday, a “higher than normal” number of teachers were out at Airport High School and Brookland-Cayce High School in Lexington 2, a school district spokesperson said. Fewer than 20 staff members were absent at each school, and both schools continued to operate with replacement staff, the district said.
“Both principals worked diligently to arrange for substitutes for all classes, and the instructional day is proceeding on a normal school-day schedule,” said district spokesperson Dawn Kujawa.
A teacher who spoke to The State said teachers have concerns about how successful social distancing and other protective measures can be now that schools in the district returned to a full in-person class schedule this week.
Teachers have also requested the Lexington 2 school board hold a meeting with public participation so that teachers can present their concerns and receive a response from the school board and the district administration.
“Our main thing is to go back to the hybrid model,” said an Airport High School teacher, who asked to remain anonymous. Schools in the district previously operated on a rotating two-day in-person schedule, with students spending part of the week on campus and the other three days learning remotely.
“We’d also like to see the district’s COVID dashboard be updated with the number of students and faculty quarantined,” the teacher said, believing it would more accurately reflect the impact on the district.
A letter from teachers to the board that was forwarded to The State cited concerns about unsafe working conditions amid the pandemic, an inadequate amount of personal protective equipment, and the growing number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in South Carolina.
“Unsafe working conditions specifically include class sizes (as large as 32), which inhibit appropriate social distancing,” the letter reads. “The mask-wearing and type of masks worn by all parties are not consistent with CDC and DHEC guidelines, and this is also alarming as we are in contact with more than 75 people per day.”
The letter also expresses concerns about how effectively the partitions used to separate students in classrooms can be cleaned between classes. It also says reopening schools is not in line with the district’s own guidelines given high levels of coronavirus spread in Lexington County.
Lexington 2 declined to comment on the letter Friday morning.
This is the third straight day Brookland-Cayce has reported a high number of staff absences. More than 20 staff members called out on Wednesday, and about half that number were out on Thursday, the district reported.
On Tuesday, three high schools in the neighboring Lexington-Richland 5 school district shut down as staff called out in protest of the district’s policy of operating on campus four days a week. The school board there later reverted to a hybrid plan with two days a week of in-person learning for the rest of December in middle and high schools.
This story was originally published December 4, 2020 at 11:38 AM.
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