Jasper County to phase in face-to-face instruction. What we know about the timetable
Some Jasper County students will return to the classroom and face-to-face instruction on Monday, the school district announced.
“Specified subgroups” of special education students will be the first to return to school buildings, followed by pre-kindergarten and elementary school students on Sept. 29, the district said.
Middle and high school students will return Oct. 12.
The plan to phase in face-to-face instruction won’t affect the district’s online learning option, which will continue for those families who prefer it, the district said in a Sept. 4 press release.
S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster announced Wednesday that the district would be one of three in the state piloting a “datacasting” program with SCETV, using television signals to transmit a one-way, encrypted internet signal into homes.
As of Sept. 7, Jasper County is considered “medium-risk” for the spread of coronavirus, according to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control’s classification system.
The system has three metrics:
The number of new cases in the past two weeks.
Whether new cases have increased, decreased or stayed level over two weeks.
Percent of positives among people tested for COVID-19 in the past two weeks.
It’s unclear what this means for the district’s Aug. 26 decision to suspend all extracurriculars, including fall sports, indefinitely. District spokesman Travis Washington did not immediately respond to request for comment on any plans to resume football and volleyball games and practices.
Football games would begin Sept. 26, under the South Carolina High School League’s COVID-19 guidelines.
What about Beaufort County?
Neighboring Beaufort County School District, which began online classes Sept. 8, is remaining online for now.
The district will start talks with the S.C. Department of Education the week of Sept. 21 on a timeline to resume face-to-face classes, spokeswoman Candace Bruder said Thursday.
Superintendent Frank Rodriguez said Sept. 1 he would like to see the percent of positive tests in the county drop to 10%, as well as “about three weeks of that consistency and stability” at the medium-risk level, before reopening school buildings.
On Sept. 7, the county returned to “high-risk” on DHEC’s system, after a week of being considered “medium-risk.”
He added that the district would give students and parents “about two weeks” notice before beginning in-person classes.
Approximately 220 special education students with “low-incidence disabilities” have the option to begin hybrid instruction on Monday, spending two days a week in school buildings for face-to-face instruction and therapy services.
“The metrics this week are the best they have been in a while,” Bruder said Thursday. “That’s very encouraging because we want to open sooner rather than later.”