WEST: To be or not be in person in the classroom

By Gary West, special to Charleston Currents  |  On July 15, 2020, Gov. Henry McMaster lobbied for opening schools for all of South Carolina’s children – full classrooms, full-time, five days a week – while the pandemic continues to spread faster and farther.  

West

Each school district in South Carolina has been required to submit a reopening plan to the South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE).  And all those plans were required to have an option for parents to send their students to school.

Since the governor announced his plan to reopen all South Carolina schools, the following events have taken place:

• The South Carolina branch of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) expressed concerns that its original position on reopening schools was being politicized.  The AAP clarification indicates that the safety, health and well-being of students must be primary in reopening schools. 
• The White House coronavirus task force listed South Carolina as a COVID-19 “red zone” state.
• As a result of full classrooms, hundreds of students and staff in Georgia’s public schools have contracted COVID-19 (including almost 900 student athletes) and thousands are being quarantined – after just one week in school.  All involved schools have shut down or gone to online learning. 
• South Carolina’s state epidemiologist has stated the governor has misled the public about her position on reopening segments of the state’s economy and schools. 
• SCDE has approved all school district plans for reopening schools. 
• The governor has instructed the state Department of Health and Environmental Control to “collect, compile, and disclose information regarding confirmed COVID-19 cases among students and staff in every school district in the state.”

New AAP research states that children’s counts and rates will go higher when the general population counts and rates go higher.  The general population can protect children, teens and vulnerable adults only with “physical distancing, wearing cloth face coverings, washing our hands, and avoiding large gatherings” – none of which “red zone” South Carolina requires.

The AAP, the Centers for Disease Control and others have stated that states with positivity rates below 5 percent might consider in-person classes, with all the necessary health and safety measures in place.  South Carolina continues to have positivity rates between 15 percent and 20 percent.  If the coronavirus is still spreading at those rates, “it is inevitable it will follow students and staff to school” – and then back home – according to the AAP.

International and national research indicates children transmit the virus at the same rates and with the same potency as do adults.  South Carolina’s school children can:

1. be infected at school by other children and adults, 
2. infect other children and adults at school, and, importantly, 
3. take it home with them where vulnerable family members can be infected.  

In South Carolina, young adults were not infected by and did not transmit the virus at high rates UNTIL the governor reopened the beaches, bars, lakes, etc.  After that, young adults became a major driver of the virus across the state.

The events of the last few weeks and important new research indicate we can expect school-aged children to become another major driver when South Carolina’s public schools reopen in-person while the pandemic remains uncontrolled.  

Parents in South Carolina are in a no-win situation.  When their kids are sick with COVID-19, those parents must stay home.  When other kids are sick with COVID-19 and schools are constantly in quarantine status, those parents also must stay home.

Parents who must stay home may lose their jobs.  Those parents may not be able to qualify for unemployment and/or other stimulus benefits.  This will be especially true for single parents because, historically, South Carolina has ignored its most economically vulnerable citizens.  And isn’t that ironic – because this is all about the economy – isn’t it?  

The school district data collected by DHEC will be meaningful ONLY if those data are used to make decisions about NEXT STEPS to protect children and educators, as well as their families and friends.  If the school district data will not be used any better than the statewide data are being used, what’s the point?  

The governor has set up South Carolina to fail.  He still refuses to shut down the anti-maskers for the good of all South Carolinians.  Eventually, he will have to shut down the economy again, whether he likes it or not.  His demand for in-person instruction will cause teachers and students to miss more school than if reopening was delayed or done entirely online. 

Governor, not to decide is to decide.  If you don’t decide, the situation will decide for you.  You may not like your options – but one of those will get it done; the other will just keep doing it to you – and the rest of us.  

Gary W. West of Greenwood, a former chief information officer for the S.C. Department of Education, has worked in K-12 education for more than 50 years.  More of his articles are available here.