COLUMBIA, S.C. ā The second half of August is when most South Carolina School Districts return for the new school year. Some are still planning how they can prevent a surge in COVID-19 cases within their staff and student body.
"We have a number of health and safety protocols in place," said Dr. Marshalynn Franklin, Deputy Superintendent for Richland Two. "They look very similar to what they were at the end of last school year, with a few changes."
Franklin said one big change the district is making this academic year is changing the distance between students. Students will be separated by three (3) feet instead of six (6).
"Elementary classrooms through 6th grade, we are going to keep our barriers in place that were in place in classrooms last year, of course, because those are the students who are ineligible to get vaccinated," Franklin said. "In our secondary classrooms, our 7th through 12th grade classrooms will have barriers available for students and staff to use as needed or as requested."
In a board meeting on Tuesday, the board announced they plan on mandating masks on the school bus. The district's Health Service Coordinator, Dawn MacAdams, said if students show symptoms at school, the district has isolation rooms for them to separate from other students. Masks are required inside those rooms.
"So, if we have a student experiencing symptoms that is not currently wearing a mask, we will put a mask on them while we're waiting for the child to be picked up; just so if they do have COVID, we are trying to mitigate the spread to anyone else that may be in the isolation room," MacAdams said.
This mandate does not violate the state proviso, which bans schools from requiring masks, because health and isolation rooms are considered health care facilities.
MacAdams said if the isolation room in the school becomes overfilled, barriers will be place between students to prevent any potential spread. She said, the district has tracked 400 students who are currently in quarantine and expect a case surge heading back to school.
"The nurses are going to be vary busy with contact tracing, and just trying to stay on top of that will be their full-time job in the beginning," MacAdams said. "We hope that as we get people back into school, parents will choose to have their students masked and employees will choose to mask so we can try to mitigate the spread of the delta variant and get our numbers to drop."
Students who test positive or are placed in quarantine are still able to receive their assignments online. Richland Two also provides a free online tutor for students who need the extra support.
Dr. Franklin said the district asked the states board of education to not count days out for quarantine, as part of the student's limit of days out of school. The says they have not heard back yet.