SC could know options for reopening K-12 schools as soon as June, top official says

South Carolina could have recommendations for how to open school amid the coronavirus pandemic as soon as June 1, a top official said Monday.

Those recommendations — which will come from the AccelerateEd task force — could include ways to socially distance on school buses, how to split up classes, what to do about summer school/makeup days and more, S.C. Superintendent of Education said during a Facebook Live stream with The State on Wednesday.

But like everything with coronavirus, guidance today could change next week, or the week after that, Spearman said.

“Even after the recommendations are made, nothing is set in stone because we will be working with health officials right up until the few days prior to school opening,” Spearman said during the live event.

Some of the proposed ideas have included keeping students in one classroom for an entire day, staggering recesses, filling buses to only a fraction of their capacity, makeup days and more, according to previous articles from The State.

The recommendations will resemble more of a “menu” of best practices rather than a one-size-fits-all mandate, officials have said.

AccelerateEd will meet tomorrow at 1 p.m. To live-stream the meeting, go to https://ed.sc.gov/ and click on the prompt for the meeting.

This story was originally published May 13, 2020 at 4:45 PM with the headline "SC could know options for reopening K-12 schools as soon as June, top official says."