LR5 moving all schools to virtual beginning Friday
Lexington-Richland 5 announced Thursday that all schools in the district will shift to a virtual schedule beginning Friday.
All students will learn remotely on Friday and again on Tuesday, with normal in-person classes scheduled to resume on Wednesday. Schools are out Monday for the Martin Luther King Day holiday.
The Chapin-Irmo school district has been hit hard by rising COVID-19 case numbers since classes resumed after the winter break. The school district announced Thursday that staff absences have reached a higher proportion than at the height of the delta surge in COVID-19 cases last year.
“School District Five is experiencing a high number of faculty and staff impacted by COVID-19 isolation and quarantine,” the district announced in a Facebook post. Administrators have scrambled to cover classes with substitutes, other reassigned staff and even members of the administrative office.
“Today COVID-19 related absences are more than twice as high as absences during the Delta surge,” the post continues. “As a result, there will not be enough coverage available to provide effective instruction, safety, and supervision throughout the district.”
Arts and athletic events scheduled for Friday and Tuesday will continue at 50% capacity, the district said, in line with S.C. High School League rules. Other extracurricular clubs and activities will be called off until Wednesday.
Free meals for students will be provided each school day from 11 a.m. to noon in front of each school.
Other school districts in South Carolina have had to adjust operations due to the pandemic. Oconee County schools and both school districts in Bamberg County have already shifted to virtual classes this week. River Bluff High School in Lexington 1 has been remote all this week, and LR5’s Chapin Elementary moved to virtual on Wednesday.
On Monday, the Lexington-Richland 5 school board voted to ask the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control to loosen its quarantine measures, citing the burden on students and staff of days-long quarantine periods out of school, while also questioning whether vaccinated individuals should have more lenient quarantine requirements than unvaccinated ones and questioning the requirement that people returning from quarantine wear a mask for up to five days.
The latest numbers from Lexington-Richland 5’s dashboard showed that 2,656 students were out of school due to COVID-19 as of Wednesday, along with 195 staff members. Those are the highest numbers Lexington-Richland 5 has seen since the beginning of the school year, but in line with the surge reported by other school districts since the winter break.
“School District Five did not make this decision lightly, as a shift in the instructional model impacts all families,” the district statement said. “District administration, principals, nurses, teachers, staff, and parents will continue to work together to find solutions that will improve school operations.”
This story was originally published January 13, 2022 at 11:55 AM.
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