Vaccines, masks and in-person class: What’s in Beaufort Co. schools’ reopening plan?
Beaufort County School District will not require students or staff to be vaccinated or to wear masks when school starts in August, and teachers won’t have to split their attention between virtual and in-person students, according to a new fall reopening plan unveiled Tuesday night.
But some changes from COVID-19 — including sanitation stations, outdoor lunches and contact tracing — will remain in effect.
The school district will not offer its current virtual-only class option for the 2021-22 school year, but middle school students will have other options to stay online-only, according to the reopening plan.
The plan was formed with input from two district surveys, which got a combined 4,755 responses from parents, staff, community members and students.
A federal COVID-19 relief program requires a reopening plan from the district for it to receive $50.9 million in ESSER III funding.
The plan outlines the district’s policies on social distancing, masks, vaccines and barriers when the school year begins Aug. 16.
Virtual classes
The district will stop offering online-only classes in the format it’s used since March 2020.
Middle school students will be able to apply to take virtual classes full time from the Lowcountry Virtual Academy, though seats in the program are limited, chief instructional services officer Mary Stratos said Tuesday.
The virtual academy is a pilot program for several school districts in the state, and will not be taught by district teachers. However, its teachers will be state-certified with an endorsement for online teaching.
There are only 100 seats in that program, and they are on a first-come, first-served basis, district spokesperson Candace Bruder said.
To participate, students must have been full-time virtual learners in 2020-21, and demonstrated “successful virtual learning,” meaning they earned at least a 2.75 GPA in the four core subjects. They’re also subject to a review of disciplinary and attendance records, according to Bruder.
High school students won’t have a full-time virtual option, but students can register for classes not offered at their school through the district’s SC Virtual franchise, which also has a GPA requirement and an application process. Interested students should see their school counselor for details, Bruder said.
“With elementary, in all truth, we need those kids back face to face,” Stratos said.
If any student has “a medical issue that requires them to be an intermittent or full-time virtual student,” they can apply for homebound status with the help of their school counselor, Bruder said.
Homebound students are taught by the district, and need to get proof from a physician that they cannot attend school due to a medical issue, even if they’re provided with transportation. Forms to request homebound instruction can be found under the “Instructional Services” tab of the district’s website.
At the end of the school year, about 72% of the district’s 21,000-plus students were face-to-face, and 28% were online-only, Bruder said.
Masks
Students will be allowed, but not required, to wear masks in the fall, according to the plan. The lone exception will be “district spaces like nurse’s offices or designated isolation rooms.”
That’s in line with the state’s policy on mask-wearing, which changed in May when S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster issued an executive order preventing school districts and local governments from imposing mask requirements on students or residents.
Students won’t have to sign a waiver to go without a mask, Bruder said — it will be entirely optional.
Vaccines
Students won’t be required to get vaccinated to return to school in the fall.
According to the reopening plan, the district is putting together “a mid-summer vaccination clinic specifically for students aged 12 and up and their families in coordination with Beaufort Memorial Hospital.”
The district had success in setting up vaccine clinics for employees with Beaufort Memorial and Hilton Head Hospital earlier this year. Hundreds of staff members were vaccinated at school sites or at the hospitals through these clinics.
Social distancing and sanitation
The district will maintain 3 feet of social distance “whenever circumstance will allow for it” at school, according to the plan. That will include outdoor dining and the use of large, open spaces for schoolwide gatherings.
Plexiglass desk barriers will be provided on request, but not required in classrooms.
The district will provide sanitation stations throughout buildings, and will continue deep cleaning with sanitation foggers.
Federal money
In addition to the ESSER III federal grant the school district received in April, the schools previously received $31.2 million across other federal grants, and have spent $8.6 million on teacher training, technology needs for virtual classes, contact tracing, sanitation and student summer camps.
The ESSER III grant expires in September 2024. The district is currently submitting an outline, due in August, of how it will use that money.
This story was originally published July 14, 2021 at 10:52 AM.