Beaufort County schools ask for parent, employee opinions on reopening in new survey
After months of remote learning amid the coronavirus pandemic, Beaufort County School District is soliciting opinions on how to return to school in the fall in a pair of new surveys.
More than 100,000 responses on one part of those surveys have already rolled in.
The surveys - one for district employees and one for parents of incoming kindergarten to 12th-grade students - were sent out via email and robocall Tuesday night. They will remain open until June 10.
Both ask one question: “What are some of the most important considerations we need to think about as we prepare to reopen schools in the fall?”
District spokesman Jim Foster said survey takers are prompted to write up to 10 responses, then to rate other responses based on how much they agree or disagree.
The surveys are intended to provide data for a new committee within the district that’s “examining all the issues related to opening in the fall,” Foster said.
That committee includes representatives from the elementary and secondary instruction, transportation, facilities, technology, athletics and communications departments.
As of Wednesday at 1 p.m. — less than a day after the surveys were issued — 2,821 parents had responded to the survey, submitting 3,535 responses and 107,120 rankings, Foster said.
In the same timeframe, 807 employees responded, submitting 1,317 responses and 36,348 rankings.
Beaufort County’s school board will likely hear the preliminary results of the surveys at their Tuesday meeting, Foster said.
The board will also discuss the district’s already-approved school calendars for 2020-21, which include two start dates — one for Aug. 10, which would require a waiver from the state, and one for Aug. 17.
The Jasper County School District sent out a similar survey Wednesday, which is available on the district’s Facebook page and at jcsd.net until Sunday.
So far, State Superintendent Molly Spearman and the S.C. Department of Education’s Accelerate ED task force have not issued guidance on the fall semester.
However, the state task force has discussed expanded summer school, a make-up week of classes and split school days as possibilities to help schools cope with the impacts of COVID-19.