School officials react as SCDE cancels state mask policy following McMaster’s order

COLUMBIA (WOLO): Chaos in the classroom. School districts across the state are reassessing their mask policies after Governor McMaster issued an executive order Tuesday allowing parents and students to choose if they want to wear a mask or not. The State Department of Education Wednesday said the governor has no legal grounds to do so, but also rescinded the state’s mask policy.  Now districts are faced with difficult legal decisions. 

“This has caused quite the commotion and chaos in many of our schools and communities across the state of South Carolina this morning,” said state Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman.

The order announced Tuesday night, leaving school districts with very little time to prepare. Superintendent Spearman said she rescinded the mask policy to try to establish some type of order so school districts can perform in peace and quiet for the last few weeks of school. But now says it’s putting school personnel and parents in a difficult situation, and has prompted legal concerns across the state.

“There is no mask mandate out there now. This is all about the liability that the district would incur and the taxpayers of South Carolina would have to help fund if there are lawsuits from children who are getting sick,” explained Spearman. 

Spearman cited the recently passed senate bill 147, which protects school districts against lawsuits if they follow DHEC guidelines. 

 “DHEC guidelines says everybody needs to wear a mask, but now we’re saying we’re gonna allow folks to opt-out of it, so there is a huge legal question here.”

Superintendent of Richland 2 schools, Dr. Baron Davis said “that concerns me that our chief education department is saying that this is not legal. Then balance that against the bill 147.  We live in a very litigious society and if someone should get sick, and severely sick, I think you’re gonna be facing some difficult situations.”

Following the governor’s direction for DHEC to create ‘opt-out’ forms for students, school district’s like Lexington One will allow parents to send a signed and dated note if their children will not wear a mask in class. Meanwhile, students in Richland 2 will still be required to wear a mask. Dr. Davis says the district’s policy is still in place as they wait to make a decision on what’s best for their community. 

“We can’t implement something that quickly. A decision like this can really have an adverse impact that I don’t think has been considered. Particularly as schools try to implement something like this. One would be to identify who actually has the opt-out form?” 

Dr. Davis also fears the timing of the order being so close to the end of the school year, as students are required to come to school for standardized testing and sit in close contact with each other. He also feared some students might not be able to stand at graduation if they become in close contact with a positive COVID-19 case. 

 As district’s begin to move forward on their policies, DHEC officials hope students will do the right thing. 

“Our preference would have been to delay this order for a period of time to let the case rates drop, but I think we’ll find many parents recognize the importance of masks in preventing this terrible disease. So I am very hopeful that we will see schools and most parents still having their children wear masks,” said DHEC Director Dr. Edward Simmer.