BRACK: Stop the bantam-roostering on pandemic, schools

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher  |  There’s been a lot of huffing, puffing and bantam-roostering of late by Gov. Henry McMaster and Republican legislative leaders about when schools should reopen.

Turn the cluck off, folks.  We need to do what’s right and safe, not anything related to the politics of the moment.

There’s been lots of pressure by McMaster and a coterie of state Republican legislative leaders, all mimicking tirades from President Trump in Washington, to get schools restarted as soon as possible.  The reasoning is simple — if parents can’t work because they have to continue keeping their kids at home as a pandemic roils the state, an economic recovery is further off. 

But this reasoning puts economics over safety.  In a state that never was truly closed for business, we can see what that’s done so far — nothing.  More than 1,000 people have died in South Carolina, one of the nation’s hot spots for coronavirus.  New cases are surging.  Hospitals are panicking.  And as a people, we’re just not doing enough to dampen outbreaks.

So putting kids in schools at this vulnerable point is, how do you say it?  Inadvisable, according to public health experts? Way too soon, according to hyper-worried teachers who want safe classrooms? Or just plain idiotic?

McMaster announced in recent days it was vital for schools to reopen with full-time, in-person classes after Labor Day.  Yes, parents can decide whether to keep kids at home for virtual learning, but he strongly advised schools to reopen.  

“The higher percentages [of coronavirus] that we see now, those are just facts we have to deal with,” said the governor.  “But we can’t stop everything. We can’t stop progress in education and people working. We can’t shut down forever.”

McMaster

McMaster, unhappy with results of online spring learning but backed it as a continuing option, was careful to not say he was issuing a mandate for full-time school reopening, thereby avoiding what some said could be a constitutional crisis.

Ordering schools to open likely would conflict with the powers of state Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman, notably absent from McMaster’s Wednesday press conference.  Like McMaster, she is a constitutional officer with constitutional duties.  She has pushed back saying she supports reopening schools five days a week, but “as safely and soon as possible.”  She says reopenings should be left to each of the state’s 79 school districts.  

“We cannot … turn a blind eye to the health and safety of our students and staff when the spread of the virus in some of our communities is among the highest in the world,” Spearman said in a statement. “School leaders, in consultation with public health experts, are best positioned to determine how in-person operations should be carried out to fit the needs of their local communities. I remain committed to supporting them in this endeavor and will only approve those [reopening] plans that offer high-quality options and keep safety as their top priority.”

Derek Black, a constitutional law professor at the University of South Carolina, says the tiff between McMaster and Spearman is a battle the superintendent likely would win if he tried to mandate a return to schools.

“There’s no crisis yet,” he said.  “The state superintendent is a constitutional officer and, as a constitutional officer, she stands as the governor’s equal on any matters of education — as his superior, in many respects.  That may be distressing for the governor’s office, but it’s been part of the constitutional design of this state since 1868 and remains there to this day.”

Even more curious is how legislative leaders like House Speaker Jay Lucas and Senate President Harvey Peeler were at McMaster’s side during the press conference — especially when you consider legislators actually gave Spearman more power and flexibility earlier this year in emergency pandemic legislation.

In a bill signed into law by McMaster on May 18, lawmakers authorized the superintendent to exercise emergency powers she deemed necessary and appropriate during the pandemic to “provide maximum programmatic and financial flexibility” for schools.  

Hmmm.  Sounds like Spearman can err on the side of health and safety for South Carolina’s students, huh?

So all of you Foghorns: Let’s focus on masks and curbing the virus, not stirring it up.

• Andy Brack is editor and publisher of Charleston Currents.  Have a comment?  Have a comment?  Send to: editor@charlestoncurrents.com.