COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster and the state's school superintendent are in agreement: schools statewide must reopen as soon as possible to five day a week instruction, and they both say it's safe to do it.
McMaster and South Carolina Education Superintendent Molly Spearman made remarks Thursday morning where they addressed plans to vaccinate teachers and a plan for returning to school.
"South Carolina cannot afford to delay going back to school any longer," Spearman said.
Spearman said since September 4, a total of 9,359 students and staff at K-12 schools have tested positive, which she said is 2.9 percent of all positive cases in the state. About 646 schools are open five days a week, and even with high rates of community spread, and there's no real evidence of spread in the classroom.
A Medical University of South Carolina study of public schools in Charleston found only one percent of students tested positive after the return. On Wednesday, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said schools can return to school safely without teachers getting vaccinated as long as people are wearing masks, social distancing, and following other safety guidelines.
"There is growing evidence....schools are not the superspreaders they were once feared to be," Spearman said.
Most districts are using a hybrid models of some days in person, some days virtual. Some are five day a week in person. All offer a virtual option, and that will still be there, no matter if a district does choose to go back to five day a week instruction.
Spearman said district assessments show students, particularly in lower grade levels, are experiencing "significant academic loss" in virtual and hybrid arrangements.
"We need face to face, in a traditional model, as soon as possible," she said.
McMaster, who's advocated for all schools returning to five days a week in person since last summer, has long said the tools are already available to open schools safely. He's appropriated coronavirus relief funds to schools for personal protection equipment and sent virus testing kits.
"We have lost significant learning progress from students being out of the classroom," he said. "It must change now, it must change quickly."
But most school districts, who've seen a spike in cases lead to staff shortages, have been reluctant to fully open to five day a week in person classes, fearing a surge in cases that would force schools to shut down entirely. Some have had to close periodically due to that issue.
But Spearman said while she shared some of that hesitancy last summer before school started, the data that's come in has convinced her schools can now offer a five day a week option. To that end, she's rescinded her guidance that schools must use community spread trend data--whether a county is high, medium, or low--to reopen schools.
But there remains the concern of teachers. South Carolina teachers groups, such as SC for ED, say teachers should be vaccinated now in Phase 1a of the vaccine rollout so that they can return to the classroom. Right now, they're in Phase 1b.
McMaster said just Wednesday, when he announced that anyone over 65 will be eligible to get the vaccine, that teachers will be the next priority.
McMaster and Spearman said a survey of schools found 58 percent of the state's 57,000 teachers--or about 32,000 of them--have indicated they will take the vaccine when offered. However, Only 37 school districts have come up with a plan to get teachers vaccinated. They say local health officials need to know how many people they need to vaccinate so they can work to make sure they have sufficient doses.
The two are asking districts to finalize those plans and get them back to the state office as soon as possible.
However, on Wednesday, Sen. Shane Massey of Aiken, the Republican Majority Leader in that chamber, introduced a resolution to ask for teachers to be put into Phase 1a. The plan would call for them to get vaccinated now, so that the five day a week instruction would be required at all schools as early as next month.