SC superintendent: Student safety needs to be top priority before state approves reopening plans

The state's education chief spoke with members of the House's COVID-19 Public Education Committee Wednesday

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO) —Several school districts across South Carolina are finalizing plans to reopen the door to learning this fall.

However, the state’s Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman says her team has not approved any district plans as of Wednesday.

Even though Gov. Henry McMaster (R-SC) is calling on districts to give parents the choice to have students in school five days a week, Spearman told the House COVID-19 Public Education Committee that student safety is the number one priority in order for the state to approve any plan.

Spearman said student safety, academic expectations, and keeping track of attendance are among the top factors the state will look at before approving any plan from a district.

The state’s Department of Education says most of the state’s districts submitted a plan before the July 17 deadline, but 35 asked for an extension to finalize a plan with their school boards.

Spearman says at the very least, students should make face-to-face contact with their teachers at the beginning of the year and at least once a week throughout the year. She says this will prevent more students, like the 16,000 who went unaccounted for after schools closed in March, from losing connection with their education. Spearman said as of Wednesday, 4,216 students have yet to be accounted for, though more than 3,800 names have been sent to the state’s Department of Social Services (DSS) to track them down.

“Attendance will be taken every day. We’ve made some tremendous progress over the summer. The expectation will be much higher, the students must be engaged everyday,” Spearman told lawmakers.

Spearman told lawmakers she is also considering having students wear masks on school buses, and says some districts have talked about installing plexiglass around desks.

She also said announcements will be coming soon about social distancing and capacity on school buses. Her “accelerateED” Task Force, which last held public meetings in June, recommended that buses hold 50% of their listed capacity, and that schools stagger arrival and dismissal times.

Even though she says this school year will be anything but normal, Spearman assured lawmakers districts are more prepared for any COVID-19 related challenge as opposed to when schools first closed in March.

“If one teacher in a school becomes infected or one child, that does not mean the whole school has to close down,” Spearman said. “Our goal is to get every child back in school as soon as possible, because we know that’s where they need to be, but we need to do so safely.”

Spearman says she hopes to announce the approval of some district’s plans in the coming days.