As COVID-19 cases rise, SC district lets elementary students take online-only classes

Some Lexington 1 elementary school students will be allowed to attend online-only classes as the coronavirus situation in South Carolina worsens because of the delta variant and unvaccinated people.

The Lexington 1 Online Learning Academy, or LOOLA — which was available to students last year — will now be available to elementary school students for fall 2021, district spokeswoman Kathryn McPhail said in an email.

The move comes after Lexington 1 sent an email to parents last week to gauge interest in online-only classes. In response, parents of 570 elementary school students said they were interested in online-only classes, McPhail said.

The district had already been offering online-only LOOLA classes for middle and high school students, and even at those grade levels — where more students are eligible for the vaccine — 100 more students since July have asked to enroll in online-only classes in the last two weeks, McPhail said.

Lexington 1 is trying to make sure it has enough staffing to support the sudden surge in demand for online-only classes, but “cannot guarantee” everyone who asked to take online-only classes will get in, McPhail said.

When Lexington 1 was planning for fall 2021, most parents told the district they were not interested in online-only classes, so the district did not offer it for elementary school students. Plus, educators agree young students learn better while physically in classrooms, McPhail said.

“We know virtual learning is not optimal” for young students, McPhail told The State.

Lexington 1 schools will begin classes Aug. 17.

This story was originally published August 12, 2021 at 11:18 AM.