COLUMBIA, S.C. — The S.C. Department of Health and Environment Control (DHEC) is warning school districts after some parents have reportedly altered their legal mask opt-out consent forms.
"We had parents that were initially interested in getting a copy of the form after the governor made his announcement," said Mary Anne Byrd, Executive Director for Community Relations for Kershaw County Schools.
Some parents are upset at having to give consent before their child can go back to school maskless. Some are now altering these forms.
On Wednesday, DHEC sent an email out to school districts stating:
"Note to schools: Please be aware, if you're not already, that parents who want their child to be mask-free in schools with a mask requirement must complete the DHEC standardized form found here. This form is only necessary for districts and schools with mask requirements in place. The form, without any edits, should be sent to the school. Any modified forms are invalid, and schools should not accept them.
Modifications that may occur may be easily recognized or subtle and easy to overlook. Examples might include:
- Stricken-through language
- replacement words or phrases (i.e. from "I understand and agree" to "I understand and disagree")
- inserted words (i.e from "I have signed this form freely and.." to "I have not signed this form freely")
- Deleted words or phrases"
In Kershaw County, Byrd said they have been lucky enough to not have any parents trying to modify the forms.
"We have not seen anybody trying to modify the form itself," Byrd said. "There hasn't been an issue here. We actually have on our website that has to be filled out, and without any kind of changes to it at all."
Byrd told News 19, the county posted the form in a way that parents can only submit their answers.
"We've loaded the form on our website, and then we've made it fillable, and that means that you can go and type in the answers if you'd like to do that but it doesn't change the question," Byrd said.
DHEC told WLTX they have made a referral with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED).
"They were aware of their mask opt out form potentially being modified," said Tommy Crosby, Director of Information Services at SLED. "Due to that, wanted to make sure that SLED was aware. So they provided us that information so that we could review it, and to make any determination on whether or not an official investigation would be warranted."
DHEC said any modified forms are considered invalid and schools should not accept them.
The consent forms were created after Governor Henry McMaster issued an order to end all mask mandates in South Carolina.
News 19 also reached out to the SC Department of Education but was unable to get a comment.