Another Midlands school district going to virtual classes as COVID surges in SC
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Another Midlands school district will have its students attend virtual classes as COVID-19 surges in South Carolina.
On Tuesday, Clarendon 2 announced it will close all of its schools to students across the district.
Several students have the coronavirus, and hundreds more, along with teachers and other staff, are in quarantine. At least 12 students have tested positive for COVID-19, while 296 students and four staff members are in quarantine, according to the school district.
Clarendon 2, which includes Manning High School, will switch to online classrooms on Sept. 6, Superintendent Dr. Shawn Johnson said in a letter shared on the district’s Facebook page.
Teachers will continue to go to schools, where they will conduct the online classes, according to the letter.
The switch to virtual classrooms will not lessen expectations for students.
“Students are expected to attend all live class meetings on time, and participate in all class sessions,” in their entirety, Johnson said. “Students will have to join all of their virtual class sessions in order to be marked present.”
The rest of this week will be used to prepare for the transition to virtual learning, according to the letter.
Information on how long Clarendon 2 will be virtual-only was not available.
“At the end of next week, we will provide more information about the status of school closures in (Clarendon 2),” Johnson said.
This decision was a change from the school district’s position last week, when it said that going virtual was only an option under severe circumstances.
“While we acknowledge the concern and frustration of our students and families, please understand that according to the SC Department of Education, ‘Districts/schools are not permitted to offer only virtual instruction unless the district/school can no longer safely operate and provide face to face instruction due to staffing shortages resulting from COVID-19 or similar infectious disease,’ ” school district officials said in an Aug. 26 Facebook post.
In that post, Clarendon 2 officials said things could change “should staffing shortages exist and the school/district feels it cannot safely offer face to face instruction.”
Switching to virtual classes is not an easy decision for any school district in South Carolina.
In May, Gov. Henry McMaster blocked all school districts and local governments from requiring masks by issuing an executive order that also impacted how many students a district can allow to take virtual classes. In June, the state Legislature also adopted a proviso for the 2021-22 school year that prohibits schools from requiring masks be worn by students and limits the percentage of students who can take virtual-only classes.
The legislation requires schools to offer five-day in-person instruction for all students.
In addition to Manning High, Manning Junior High, Manning Elementary, and Manning Primary schools are in the Clarendon 2 district. Other Clarendon 2 schools include F.E. Dubose Career Center, Phoenix Charter High School, and Manning Early Childhood Center. The district serves approximately 3,000 students from pre-Kindergarten to the 12th grade.
Clarendon 2 joins some schools in the Lexington 1 and Lexington 2 school districts with students switching from in-person classrooms to virtual learning.
The U.S. is experiencing another wave of COVID-19 cases because of the highly contagious delta variant.
South Carolina has reported more than 735,000 (confirmed and probable) cases of the coronavirus and 10,598 deaths since the start of the pandemic. With 47% of the state’s population fully vaccinated, health officials are urging people to get the COVID-19 vaccine to help limit the spread of the virus and to protect themselves.
As of Aug. 27, there have been 503 breakthrough cases that led to hospitalizations in South Carolina, and 0.0058% of fully vaccinated people died of COVID-19, according to DHEC.
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This story was originally published August 31, 2021 at 3:27 PM.
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