Rock Hill schools could move to 5 days a week in the classroom. What we know.
Rock Hill schools could require students to return to in-person instruction five days a week beginning in November.
Monday, the Board of Trustees discussed a proposal to move from the original A/B-day hybrid model to a five-day-a-week model. Based on the proposed plan, only students in the A/B-day model would return. Students enrolled in the district’s virtual academy would remain online.
Under the plan, students would not all come back at once.
Students in pre-K through second grade would return Nov. 9 and students in third through fifth grade would return Nov. 30 following Thanksgiving break. A return date for middle and high school students has not yet been determined.
Before a decision is made, district officials will send a survey this week to parents with children on the A/B-day schedule, along with teachers. The dates are subject to change and the board will consider the proposal at the next October meeting.
“Somebody once told me, ‘If you fail to plan, you plan to fail,’ so we had to start somewhere,” Tanya Campbell, the district’s chief personnel officer, said. “Those dates are draft dates. So, we want your input from the parents, as well as our teachers and our staff who are on this A/B schedule.”
What do the numbers say?
About a week after the district’s first day of school, Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman said in a letter to district superintendents that schools should allow face-to-face learning for students “who need it the most,” including students in kindergarten through fifth grade, “in as traditional a model as possible.”
Luanne Kokolis, the district’s chief of strategic planning, engagement and program support, said the end goal has been to get students back in the classroom five days a week, and recent coronavirus data in the area show that the district could consider moving in that direction.
“Now, we find ourselves at another point in time with different data sets, and with different expectations for student learning, based on where we are during this pandemic,” Kokolis said.
Since Sept. 8, the district has had 23 students and 13 staff members test positive for the coronavirus, according to the school district’s online dashboard.
In comparison to the other three surrounding school districts, Rock Hill, which is the largest of the four districts, has had the highest number of cases confirmed since August, based on the data.
How would it work?
Right now, the district has installed more than 6,000 plexiglass desk shields for all the students who attend in-person instruction on the A/B-day schedule. Under the five-day proposal, the district would continue that protocol and need to install additional shields, Brian Vaughn, the district’s executive director of facilities services, said.
The district also plans to continue following the “contained classroom model” or cohorting, meaning certain students remain together throughout the school day and do not come in contact with other students outside the group, the district’s lead clinical nurse Sadie Kirell said.
Kirell pointed out that classroom sizes would double under the plan and social distancing would be more difficult. In environments where social distancing cannot be maintained, based on recommendations from the state Department of Health and Environmental Control, if a student were to test positive, all students and staff would be considered close contacts and need to quarantine for a 14-day period.
“That means when we have a positive in a classroom, the entire classroom would go home for a 14-day period, including the teacher, if we were not able to maintain that six feet social distance,” Kirell said. “I would like to say, up to this point, our schools, our teachers, our principals have done a fantastic job of making sure that we follow those safety protocols that are put in place.”
‘This is heart-wrenching’
Trustee Ann Reid said she’s concerned by the high number of cases still being reported in the county, and she’s worried the virus could have detrimental effects for younger children.
“The COVID-19 is still a young virus as far as long term effects,” Reid said. “We don’t know how this is going to affect children — kindergarten through fifth grade — in their growth and development in years to come. I would just be very, very hesitant to say, put it in place right now.”
Trustee Mildred Douglas asked if parents with students in the virtual academy will have the option to send their children back to the classroom. Kokolis said the current plan is focused on students in the A/B-day schedule.
“This is heart-wrenching because everybody knows how important education is to our children, and one of our goals as far as to produce where a student will be productive in society,” Douglas said.
