Lancaster County schools plan in-person return. Similar trend forms across the region
Area school districts continue to plan more in-person students, even as COVID-19 cases increase.
The Lancaster County School District board met Tuesday night. Superintendent Jonathan Phipps then posted a video to detail upcoming schedule changes.
“Our plan right now is to bring back our elementary students — elementary only, grades K through 5 — on Monday, Dec. 7, four days a week, Monday through Thursday with a flex day on Friday,” Phipps said.
The district began the year with students either in virtual or hybrid schooling. It has students in classrooms, except for full-time virtual students, twice per week. Some parents protested that setup to the board in recent months. Parents asked for a full return to in-person class.
Some district teachers, asked the board not to return to full in-person class until virus levels declined.
Many of the parents who addressed the board spoke of difficulty their elementary school students have with virtual learning. Many of the teachers in favor of hybrid options came from middle and high schools.
Phipps said in the video Tuesday night the Dec. 7 target impacts only elementary students.
“If you’re a middle school or a high school student, you will stay on the AB schedule, or either virtual,” Phipps said.
The AB schedule will change somewhat for older students. “A” day students will go Mondays and Tuesdays, “B” day students on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Fridays will be a flex day.
Older students will return to full in-person class later in the year, per the current plan.
“It will be at least second semester before we’re able to do that,” Phipps said.
The superintendent said he believes the current plan is the best for students.
“Our number one goal is to keep folks safe,” he said.
In other districts
Lancaster County isn’t alone in having to decide when to bring students back. The Fort Mill School District board also met Tuesday night. Elementary students are back in school five days in Fort Mill, but middle and high school students aren’t. Superintendent Chuck Epps said the target is a return next semester.
“We want to get back to school,” Epps said. “We intend to get back to school. We plan, we hope and pray, to get back to school face to face. It has to be within a healthy environment, though.”
Earlier this month superintendent Sheila Quinn with the Clover School District posted an update video. She detailed a parent survey and discussed schedule changes for middle and high school students. The plan is to bring back hybrid middle school students four days a week, with Wednesdays as a virtual day, on Jan. 11. High school students would do the same with the start of second semester, Jan. 19.
“Clover School District will continue to monitor the COVID metrics within York County, within 29701 and 29745 zip codes and within our district as it relates to students and staff,” Quinn said.
Rock Hill, York and Chester County schools have made similar decisions in recent months as more students return to class. All as coronavirus cases trend upward in York, Lancaster and Chester counties as a whole.
York County has several recent days where the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control posted 100 or more cases. Lancaster County cases have been higher than average, too, this month.
Across South Carolina there are more than 3,200 reported COVID-19 cases in schools. Those numbers include students and staff.
The six public school districts in York, Lancaster and Chester counties have 102 schools listed by DHEC. Of them, 75% have had at least one COVID-19 case. Districts range from 67% of their schools to 90%, for registering at least one positive case.
