Why a rare teachable moment means Beaufort County students will have a day off

Rare event.

Rare opportunity.

And a rare day off for Beaufort County students.

The highly anticipated total solar eclipse will affect the county with about a 98 percent “obscuration” — a fancy science term for concealment — of the sun on Monday, Aug. 21, according to NASA.

In other words, it’ll be dark. Distracting. Disorienting, maybe.

Also, darn cool — just one reason county school kids will have the day off. And why they’ll have to start back to school early in the 2017-18 calendar year.

The eclipse — visible in 14 states, according to NASA — is an educational opportunity, one Beaufort County School District spokesperson Jim Foster says teachers and students will benefit from when classes begin on Thursday, Aug. 17, per the revised academic calendar.

“Our science teachers are in the process of working up possible activities for the kids, depending on their grade levels,” Foster said.

Those teachers will have the summer to finalize eclipse-related lesson plans to be used during the first two days of school, he said, adding that the district has also ordered some “safe-viewing” eyewear for students.

By state law, South Carolina public schools can’t begin classes before the third Monday in August, which this year is — you guessed it! — the date of the eclipse. But because the event will affect so much of South Carolina, the General Assembly created a workaround.

While the eclipse is a teachable moment, it also presents safety challenges, which Foster said prompted the decision to give kids the day off.

“If we held school that day, the schools would be dismissing in the middle of that eclipse,” Foster said. Canceling school will prevent kids from being dropped off in the dark and, hopefully, distracted driving.

“Maximum eclipse” in the county, according to NASA’s interactive eclipse map, will occur shortly after 2:45 p.m. Monday, Aug. 21. Northern parts of the county closer to Charleston will see more of the sun concealed.

“It’s going to be really disorienting,” Foster said.

While a partial eclipse will be visible that day throughout the U.S., the total eclipse can be viewed in parts of South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana and Oregon, according to NASA.

The total eclipse begins at 10:16 a.m. Pacific time in Lincoln City, Ore., and ends at 2:48 p.m. Eastern time in Charleston.

It will be the first total eclipse in the continental U.S. in 38 years.

This story was originally published March 24, 2017 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Why a rare teachable moment means Beaufort County students will have a day off."