What would it take for COVID to close Columbia-area schools? Here’s what 7 districts say
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COVID-19 mask news in Midlands schools
Curious to learn what local schools are doing about face masks as COVID-19 rises in South Carolina? Here’s a roundup of the latest updates from elementary schools to universities around the state.
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As COVID-19 cases skyrocket across the state, one South Carolina school district has made the decision to cancel in-person classes in favor of virtual school.
As Columbia-area students ready to return to school, local districts are considering what it would take for them to go back to online learning.
Here’s what officials from the seven Lexington and Richland school districts had to say:
Richland 1
Richland 1 is still finalizing protocols for possible future closures, district spokesperson Karen York said.
The plan includes handling closures on a class-by-class or school-by-school basis rather than making one sweeping decision.
To slow the spread of COVID-19, the district has adopted several safety protocols using recommendations from local health officials, York said. Those include maintaining at least 3 feet of social distancing where possible and using plexiglass desk shields inside of classrooms.
The district also will require unvaccinated students and staff who are in close contact with someone who tests positive for COVID-19 — meaning they are within 3 feet of students with COVID-19 for 15 minutes or more or within 6 feet of adults with COVID-19 — to quarantine for 10 days.
Fully vaccinated students and staff will only be required to quarantine if they have COVID-19 symptoms.
The district’s school board met Monday and voted to require students to wear masks in school, making them the second district in the state to openly defy a one-year state budget measure aiming to ban schools from making students wear masks or risk losing state money.
Richland 2
Richland 2 is basing their decisions to send students home largely on state Department of Health and Environmental Control guidance, according to district representatives.
If three or more COVID-19 cases are found within a classroom, sports team or extracurricular group within two weeks of each other, DHEC has recommended that the group or class be quarantined for two weeks after contact with the last identified case.
“Richland 2 leaders will continue to do all we can to keep our students and employees safe and our schools open so that our students can receive the highest quality education from face-to-face instruction,” district spokesperson Ishmael Tate said.
The district also will follow health guidance from DHEC and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which includes requiring all individuals ages 2 and older to wear face coverings indoors.
The Richland County Council met Monday and issued an emergency order, requiring students between the ages of 2 and 14 to wear masks while in school. The rule was targeted toward students who are too young to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
Lexington 1
Lexington 1 will evaluate new COVID-19 cases on a case-by-case basis to determine the best plan for keeping students safe, district superintendent Gregory Little said.
The district’s goal is to make decisions that “will impact the least number of students possible,” he added.
If a class sees three or more positive cases, that would trigger the evaluation process. School officials would look to see if the cases were all from one family,one grade level or one school and respond accordingly. District officials will take into account how isolated the cases are and whether they have enough staff to safely run each school, Little said.
“We’ll be looking at each individual case as it comes up,” Little said.
The district’s goal is to “pinpoint” the areas that have the highest spread. For example, if one school experiences an outbreak of COVID-19 cases, that school may be shut down for a period of time while others are allowed to remain open, Little said.
“Our hope is we won’t have to make large scale, district-wide changes,” Little said.
Lexington 1’s goal is trying to “prioritize face to face instruction and safety at the same time,” Little said.
Lexington 2
Lexington 2, for the most part, adheres to a “5% rule,” district spokesperson Dawn Kujawa said.
That means if any school sees 5% or more of its students test positive for COVID-19, it must shift to virtual learning.
But, Kujawa said schools run the risk of shutting down if they see a significant increase in positive cases within a short time, even if they don’t reach the 5% threshold. Staffing also will play a role in the district’s decision whether to close.
Lexington 2 has given their teachers expanded training on remote and blended learning, Kujawa said. Parents willget updated information on remote learning before students are sent home and schools are temporarily closed.
Lexington 3
Lexington 3 would take a targeted approach to sending students home for virtual learning, “should rising COVID numbers deem it necessary for us to swap to virtual learning,” district spokesperson Mackenzie Taylor said.
Additional clarity on how many cases it would take to close certain classrooms or schools was not provided.
Taylor said district officials would first send a single class or a group of classes home for virtual learning before they shutter an entire school.
“We know it is burdensome for parents to have to find childcare and assist with learning in an all-virtual setting,” Taylor said. “Therefore, it is our goal to keep students learning in our schools for as long as it is safe to do so.”
The district is currently monitoring confirmed COVID-19 cases and using contact tracing and sanitation to help mitigate the spread of the virus.
Lexington 4
A representative for Lexington 4 did not respond to specific questions sent Monday and Tuesday by The State.
Spokeswoman Lisa Ingram said in a statement that the district will follow state regulations, executive orders and guidance from the state Department of Education and DHEC.
Lexington-Richland 5
Lexington-Richland 5 operates on a color scale, district Superintendent Akil Ross said at a board meeting last week.
Before classes even resumed, the district was already at a level orange, or a 4 out of 5 on the level scale.
Once the district reaches red, or a 5, classes will go virtual for all students.
Ross would not explain what it would take to constitute a level red because “that information has been used to try to close schools.” However, he clarified that the district would close schools when “we cannot operate a school safely.”
Lexington-Richland 5 announced Monday it is would encouraging students and faculty to wear masks to slow the spread of COVID-19, but it would not require them, in conjunction with state law. The district’s statement came after the Richland County Council voted to require masks to be worn at all schools, which was in defiance of state law.
This story was originally published August 18, 2021 at 11:52 AM.
