Upstate school district moves back to virtual classes; staffing shortages, DHEC recommendation can prompt temporary shift

COLUMBIA (AP) — COVID-19 cases have prompted the largest South Carolina school district already back open to return to virtual lessons as students in more than 60 other districts prepare to return to class this week.
Pickens County school officials made the decision at an emergency meeting Friday, after nine days of in-class learning for the system’s15,000-plus students, the Greenville News reported.
“We don’t know if it’s safe to continue as is,” and other districts should pay attention, district spokesman Darian Byrd said during the meeting.
Officials said 142 students and 26 staff members have tested positive for COVID-19 since schools opened, and 534 students and 28 staff members were in quarantine as of Friday, WYFF-TV reported.
Last school year’s peak was 85 students in January of this year, immediately after the winter break, officials said.
Byrd said four staffers and one student are hospitalized.
The county’s remote schooling will last at least this week, with the first two days giving students a chance to pick up laptop-like Chromebooks, officials said.
Byrd said the district will announce next week’s plans by Thursday.
A state Department of Education spokesman told The Sumter Item on Monday that districts can move to virtual instruction temporarily due to COVID-19 reasons, such as quarantine.
The key word is temporarily, according to Ryan Brown, chief communications officer with the state department.
Lawmakers put a rule in the state budget in June that school districts will begin losing significant funding if more than 5% of their students choose virtual learning full-time.
“The 5% virtual cap is for full-time virtual students only,” Brown said in an email. “It does not apply to those students, classrooms, or entire schools that may move to virtual instruction temporarily due to COVID-19 reasons.”
Other districts’ openings are scattered throughout this week.
Locally, Clarendon School District 4 -- the newly consolidated district consisting of Summerton and Turbeville schools -- began Monday, as did Clarendon School District 2 in Manning. Sumter School District and Lee County School District start today.
To temporarily move to virtual learning, a school or a district must show it can no longer safely operate and provide face-to-face instruction due to staffing shortages resulting from COVID-19, according to the state Department of Education. A school or district should work in cooperation with a regional DHEC office in the decision-making process.
The state Department of Education said decision making on temporary moves to virtual instruction should be made on a school-by-school basis rather than districtwide unless the staffing shortages exist across the district and district-wide closure is recommended by public health officials. The school or district must also move back to face-to-face instruction as soon as staff becomes available.
It’s another very different school year across the state. Many schools are welcoming students back in person after the 2020-21 school year saw massive disruptions from the pandemic.
School leaders have said students and teachers are welcome to wear masks, but they can’t mandate them even with another spike in COVID-19 cases. They also can’t require vaccines for students who are eligible for the shots.
The South Carolina General Assembly put a rule in this year's state budget prohibiting districts from requiring masks. It passed in June before the current surge in COVID-19 cases started. Gov. Henry McMaster agrees that parents should choose if students wear masks.


The Sumter Item contributed to this report.