Hundreds of S.C. teachers drive around Columbia calling for continued distance learning amid COVID-19 pandemic

The Governor announced nearly two weeks ago his recommendation to have schools welcome students back into the classroom

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO) — On Monday, hundreds of teachers from across the state drove to Columbia to encourage school districts to start the school year with distance learning.

This comes after Gov. Henry McMaster (R-SC) encouraged districts to give parents the options to bring their children back to the classroom this fall.

With the number of COVID-19 cases in South Carolina, teachers decorated their cars and drove around the Governor’s Mansion and State House, honking their horns in order to make a stand against a move they say could risk lives.

“Teachers are not doing this because we don’t want to go back to work, we just want everyone to be safe, and we don’t want anyone to be in harm’s way,” said Saani Perry, the Diversity and Inclusion Officer for SC for Ed. “We think about our students who go home to older adults, like their grandparents and their older aunts and uncles, and we don’t want that community spread to happen with the COVID numbers the way that they are.”

Nearly two weeks ago, Governor McMaster and other Republican lawmakers encouraged school districts to give parents the option to put their children back in the classroom this fall.

“Parents are looking to our schools, parents pay taxes for the schools, the Constitution provides for schools, we must see that the children have these schools available,” Gov. McMaster told reporters July 15.

Since then, the South Carolina Department of Education announced they had approved reopening plans for six districts: Allendale County School District, Anderson School District Five, Berkeley County School District, Saluda County Schools, Spartanburg County School District Two, and Clover School District (York Two).

Several districts, including Richland School Districts One and Two, voted to start the school year virtually, while the boards of Lexington Two and Lexington-Richland School District Five recently voted on hybrid and virtual learning models.

Lisa Ellis, the Founder of SC for Ed, the group that rallied ten thousand teachers in May 2019 to call for education reform, say the Governor disregarded recommendations from the state’s “accelerateED” task force when calling on districts to reopen.

“To see Governor McMaster and key state lawmakers ignore those and say ‘oh, even though you’re educators and spend all this time on it, it doesn’t matter, we’re going to make you go back anyway,'” Ellis told ABC Columbia.

House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford (D-Richland County) says every teacher has a right to be concerned if they don’t feel school is the safest place to be this fall.

“We put our schoolchildren in their hands every day, and what they’re saying is they don’t feel like it’s safe. The Governor has to make it safe. South Carolina’s numbers are trending up, and as long as they’re trending up, these employees, these teachers, these caretakers of our children simply don’t feel safe,” Rep. Rutherford said.

As of Monday, South Carolina’s Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) reported there have been at least 82,071 cases of COVID-19 in South Carolina, with 1,452 deaths confirmed to have been related to the virus.