LR5 schools will start out at COVID level ‘orange,’ one step below closing buildings

Lexington-Richland 5 schools will be starting classes at a COVID-19 warning level below one that calls for closing buildings, Superintendent Akil Ross said at a Thursday virtual town hall.

The district’s five levels of coronavirus mitigation are color-coded, with blue meaning schools are operating with no COVID-19 protocols, green meaning some protocols, yellow, then orange with more coronavirus prevention policies, then red, which calls for school buildings to be closed, Ross said.

“We would be a level orange if we opened today,” Ross said.

Level orange calls for schools to continue physical distancing, optional mask-wearing, enhanced ventilation, hand-washing and quarantining when necessary.

The district can’t require students to wear masks because a one-year law passed by the Legislature this year — called a proviso — prevents schools from spending state tax money on mask mandates.

The district’s level orange reflects the increasing number of COVID-19 cases throughout the state, thanks to the delta variant and unvaccinated people spreading the virus. The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control reported 2,181 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, the most recent day available. In contrast, a month before on July 10, DHEC reported 245 new coronavirus cases, and one month before that, on June 10, DHEC reported 142 new cases.

During the town hall, DHEC assistant state epidemiologist Jane Kelly spoke, debunking vaccine myths and encouraging those attending to wear masks and get vaccinated if they are eligible. Thus far, South Carolina continues to be a COVID-19 hot spot, she said.

“We are among the top 11 in all the states in terms of levels of community transmission,” Kelly said.

Despite the rough start, Ross said he is confident the district can minimize the spread of COVID-19 in schools.

“The power is in the pivot,” Ross said.

During the town hall, a student asked Ross if he or she could require students within a school-sponsored club to wear masks, and Ross said the budget proviso prevents them from requiring masks even there because the club uses district resources.

Instead of the club mandating masks, Ross encouraged the student to be a leader and convince his or her peers to wear their masks.

“It’s one thing to tell somebody to do something,” Ross said. “It’s another to inspire them.”

Lexington-Richland 5 will begin classes on Wednesday, Aug. 18,

During the town hall meeting, Ross also presented data from a survey the district conducted on how best it should spend federal COVID-19 recovery money.

Lexington-Richland 5 received $15 million from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief fund, or ESSER, which are federal COVID funds allocated to help schools deal with the coronavirus pandemic.

Roughly three-quarters of the survey respondents were parents. Fifty-eight percent of survey respondents said they wanted learning gaps addressed using tutoring; 41% said they wanted some sort of summer enrichment and 12% said they wanted to extend the school year, according to Ross’ presentation. Respondents also favored spending federal money on boosting career and technical programs, purchasing cleaning supplies and coordinating responses to potential emergencies.

Ross, who was working in the district at Chapin High School in 2018 when he was named national principal of the year, was named interim superintendent earlier this year following the abrupt resignation of former superintendent Christina Melton.