RICHLAND COUNTY, S.C. — School leaders across the Carolinas are continuing to work on plans that would allow schools to reopen, including opening for a 4-week academic recovery camp over the summer to allow students to catch up.
Wednesday, South Carolina’s AccelerateED task force met again virtually, working to determine protocols and best practices for returning safely, but they say when and how students return will look different in each school district.
“The sooner we can get back to an in-person model the better,” said Patrick Kelly, who sits on the task force.
Kelly is also the Coordinator of Professional Learning for Richland School District Two and a teacher at Blythewood High School.
Members of the task force, Wednesday said there are still more than 150,000 students across the state without internet access. Officials say for many others, remote learning is hindered when parents work full-time, or don’t understand the material themselves.
He says others simply choose not to engage.
“The reality is if kids haven’t engaged at-distance so far, I don’t know that there’s a magic formula out there to all of a sudden overcome that gap,” Kelly said, saying that even the best distance learning programs are not engaging students.
So, he says his subcommittee is recommending four weeks of ‘academic recovery camp’ over the summer to help students catch up in areas such as reading and math.
Kelly says the program would mainly be geared toward students in grades K-3 but says he and his team also want to identify students who need to be served beyond grade 3.
In speaking to the task force, Kelly said the state issued “a preliminary poll of districts around students that may potentially need additional enrichment and it was a very large number of students we’re going to potentially need to serve.”
Kelly says he and his team are still figuring out the best ways to identify and diagnose students who may need to be invited to the summer program, how to invite them, and then how to track their progress.
Kelly says he expects to provide recommendations on summer programs to school districts by Friday.
He says his recommendations will come with flexibility, as South Carolina has 81 school districts across the state, all with different populations and financial resources.
Officials said the protocols put in place over the summer will allow districts to ‘practice’ things like social distancing, temperature screenings, etc., before fully reopening schools in the fall.
Officials said Wednesday they’re working on protocols to screen every student and staff member entering a school, adding that volunteers and visitors may have to be restricted access.
They also say they’re working on protocols on where and how to isolate anyone who arrives at school ill and is unable to be picked up, or for anyone who falls ill during the day.
Social distancing will also be a priority when schools reopen, officials said. They say student to teacher ratios inside the classroom will likely be 12 to 1.
Students will also likely eat lunch in their classrooms. For schools unable to comply with social distancing, officials on the task force said they would be looking at churches or community centers to hold the summer programs.
One main challenge with returning to school under new safety guidelines, officials said is how to safely transport students. Officials noted that students would not be screened before getting onto a school bus.
They also say social distancing would apply to buses, but right now state officials say they’re still awaiting federal guidance. Current guidelines would mean a 77-passenger school bus could only hold 26 students if kept 6 feet apart.
“I think it is unreasonable," said state superintendent Molly Spearmen. "We cannot, I don’t know that we’ll be able to operate on that type of bus setting."
Officials, Wednesday were working to determine how routes would be impacted, as well as how much funding would be needed to sanitize and clean buses.
The task force said they are also considering the idea of holding paid professional development days for staff, to help them better prepare for returning to school under a new normal.
But the conclusion Wednesday, was there are still more questions than answers. Answers, they say they’ll be working diligently to solve.
Anyone with recommendations is invited to provide feedback to accelerate@ed.sc.gov
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