Fearful students will protest as Midlands district plans return to 5-day schedule
Students are planning a protest outside Monday’s meeting of the Lexington-Richland 5 school board at Irmo High School to call for a delay in plans to return to five-day, face-to-face instruction.
The district, which currently has students attend class on campus four days a week with a virtual learning day on Wednesday, plans to move to a full five-day schedule a week after the meeting, on Feb. 1.
Students say they don’t feel safe studying in crowded classrooms while the number of COVID-19 cases is rising.
In one class, “I saw five of my classmates called out to be quarantined,” said Caroline Mack, a 17-year-old student at Spring Hill High School who is organizing Monday’s protest. “The 20 students in my home room dropped down to six.”
Six-foot social distancing is impossible in a full classroom, where desks may be only a foot or two apart, Mack said. In the halls, she sees many students either not wearing masks or wearing them improperly.
“The teachers try to enforce it, but (many students) don’t see the gravity of it,” Mack said.
As of last week, 95 students and 29 staff have currently tested positive for the coronavirus, according to Lexington-Richland 5’s online dashboard. Another 695 students and 95 staff are currently in quarantine after a COVID-19 exposure.
The cold winter months don’t help, when students cluster inside the cafeteria for lunch rather than eating outside. While some would prefer a return to the hybrid model — two days in school, three days of virtual classes — Mack said a more realistic objective is to delay five-day instruction until at least March, when it might be warm enough for students to spread apart outdoors.
Monday’s planned protest was organized in the Facebook group Students for D5, which started up ahead of a school board protest in December to call on board members to switch to hybrid classes heading into the winter break.
The protest at 6 p.m. will be socially distanced and masks will be required, and organizers have contacted the school district so a public safety officer can observe the gathering. Mack is also encouraging students and supporters to contact board members.
“This is what we want to teach kids to do, to be engaged with their community,” said Leslie Stiles, who has also hosted discussion about the protest on her Facebook page, Deep Dive Into D5. “I’m glad the school district has imparted that early, that they should use their voices to stand up for what they believe in.”
In the Facebook group “5 days f2f for district 5,” where parents have organized protests to call for a full return to five-day instruction, commenters called for a counter-demonstration to push for a return. Parents there argued those who are uncomfortable learning in person should join Lexington-Richland 5’s all-virtual program.
“If you are happy with face to face, sign your kid up for face to face and if you didn’t want face to face you should have signed your kid up for full virtual,” one said.
If students did not sign up for the virtual program from the start, “My children shouldn’t have to sacrifice their face to face instruction because families/students are now unhappy with the path they chose,” another said.
But Stiles said the district should have adjusted its virtual offerings in light of the higher number of COVID-19 cases reported across the state. Virtual classes in Lexington-Richland 5 are not currently enrolling more students, she said.
Based on cases in the Chapin and Irmo area today, “we shouldn’t be in school at all, much less five days,” she said.
The school board will meet to go into a closed executive session at 6 p.m. Monday, then return to open session at 7 p.m.
This story was originally published January 22, 2021 at 12:16 PM.
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