New CDC study ups pressure on SC Midlands schools to add in-person classes

Parents who have been urging, and in some cases protesting, to increase in-person classes for students just got a big break, thanks to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A CDC study released Tuesday showed “there has been little evidence that schools have contributed meaningfully to increased community transmission,” according to the study.

The study used data from multiple countries and U.S. states. In North Carolina, 11 school districts with a total of 90,000 students and employees were open for nine weeks and only 32 infections were acquired in school and there were no documented cases of students spreading coronavirus to employees, according to the study.

Meanwhile, having visitors to a home or attending social gatherings is still seen as risky, according to the study.

As with everywhere in America, Midlands school districts have been crushed “between a rock and a hard place” on whether to increase in-person classes, even as case numbers remain high in Richland County.

The dilemma stems from the unanimous agreement among educators that students need the option to study in-person classes to effectively learn and to minimize the unequal effects of COVID-19 and remote learning on underserved communities. On the other side are many teachers, some of whom have pre-existing medical conditions and fear for their safety if classrooms reopen. Coronavirus has already claimed the life of several K-12 teachers in the S.C. Midlands.

Richland, Lexington schools

Richland 1 Superintendent Craig Witherspoon said at a Tuesday school board meeting he “absolutely” is factoring in the CDC information into the decision on whether to begin phasing in in-person classes next week.

Witherspoon said he worries unintended consequences if the district resumes in-person classes, such as in other, nearby districts where teachers stayed home — sometimes in protest — saying they felt unsafe returning to in-person classes.

“We don’t want a mass exodus of teachers. We don’t want to say we have to close ‘school A’ because teachers aren’t there, and then the next day it’s ‘school B,’” Witherspoon said at the meeting, adding, “Do we have to consider all of these aspects? Yes we do. And that’s all we’re saying.”

Earlier this month, Richland 1 extended its online-only classes until the end of January, which is Friday. Starting next week, it’s unclear whether classes will be virtual-only or hybrid.

The district is also considering restructuring classes to both those who want to be in school and those who want to remain virtual-only, Sandra Brossard, Richland 1’s chief of teaching and learning, said at the Tuesday school board meeting.

One of those methods is a “dual modality” model for elementary school students. In a dual modality system, class is held in-person for students and teachers who want to be there, and is live-streamed for students who are at home, Broussard said. The problem with dual modality — something that is already being done in middle and high schools — is children in the classroom are essentially doing virtual learning activities but are physically present in class, Broussard said.

“An unintended consequence, but expected consequence of this…is that the kind of in-person instruction that students would normally get in a classroom would be quite different,” Broussard said.

Richland 1 also considered matching up students who want to return to in-person classes with teachers who are comfortable teaching in the classroom, but that would cause schools to shuffle their entire teacher roster, Broussard said.

Richland 1 expects to announce its decision Wednesday after reviewing a survey of students, parents and employees, Witherspoon said Tuesday.

“We are trying to be as deliberative as possible,” Witherspoon said.

Lexington-Richland 5 officials did not comment directly on the CDC report, but the Chapin-Irmo area district is moving forward with plans to resume five-day in-class instruction beginning Monday, despite student-led protests calling for a delay until COVID-19 case numbers decline.

Lexington 2 reopened its schools in Cayce and West Columbia full-time in December, and resumed classes last week after beginning January with two weeks of virtual classes.

Lexington 1 is already taking action on many of the CDC’s recommendations, such as putting plexiglass dividers in classrooms. The district, which includes the towns of Lexington, Gilbert and Pelion, doesn’t plan to move from its current operating schedule, which has students in lower grades attending class on campus four days a week, and high schools operating on a hybrid model of two days of classroom instruction and three days of remote learning.

Spokeswoman Mary Beth Hill said the district is continuing to monitor staff and student case numbers in deciding how to move forward.

The State has reached out to Richland 2 school district in the northeast area, which is conducting a mix of in-person and online classes.