A new school year unlike any other

A NEW SCHOOL YEAR IN A NEW WORLD

BY BRUCE MILLS AND KAYLA GREEN

Social distancing markers, face masks, hand sanitizer and parents dropping off kids in the parking lot with school officials for temperature checks are just some of the new looks to school this year.

When the pandemic hit, schools closed without warning. After finishing the school year via emergency distance learning, districts spent the summer planning for what the fall would look like. Seeing as COVID-19 is still making an impact with widespread community disease activity reports, students will remain on altered learning schedules. In Sumter, classes began on Aug. 28 entirely online. Sumter School District board members and administration will reevaluate an in-person option every two weeks and launch a hybrid instruction model as an option for students when it is deemed safe to do so. The hybrid model will have students split into groups, with one group going to school for face-to-face instruction two days a week while the other group remains at home and learns online with teachers offering instruction live. The other two days, the groups switch. Wednesday is planned to be distance learning – not live instruction – for all students. Administration have said about half of the district’s children will choose the hybrid model of instruction when it begins, and the other half will learn entirely virtually the whole school year. "It's been a true joy to have children back in the building," said Preston Spratt, principal at Willow Drive Elementary School, about the school’s LEAP Days in mid-August. "The teaching is going really well, our students are knowing that they are cared for, and we are getting to lay eyes on them." In mid-July, the state Department of Education required every district that planned to begin the year with full virtual instruction, including Sumter, to offer LEAP Days as a face-to-face orientation and evaluation for students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade before school officially starts. One of the state's intentions with LEAP was to have districts and schools touch base with certain students who went largely unaccounted for in the spring after the move to remote learning. But LEAP was considered a good evaluation and preparation method for all elementary- and middle-school students, given the sudden school closures in March associated with the spread of the virus.

Spratt said his teachers' focus for LEAP centered on math, reading and social and emotional support. Students also spent time familiarizing themselves with learning devices and the online learning platform. To accommodate social distancing of 6 feet, class sizes were capped at 10 students, and most classes averaged about seven students per day. Given those protocols, one of the biggest visible changes at Willow Drive is that classrooms now have just 10 desks and chairs for students, and all seats are 6 feet apart. All teachers, students and staff wear face masks, take part in new routines, and safety is the priority, Spratt said. It's all a new way of doing school in the future in a hybrid model of two days of in-person instruction and the remainder of the week at home and virtually. "We have let these students know that when we come back in hybrid,” he said, “they are going to be the leaders and the ones who teach their classmates how we do school now.”

School plans for Clarendon, Lee county districts

Clarendon School District One, which started its school year Aug. 17, is offering three instruction options for students: face-to-face five days a week; a hybrid model with two days of instruction in person; and fully virtual. Clarendon School District Two's reopening plan included an online start date for instruction of Aug. 17. Beginning Monday, Sept. 14, the Manning-based district will offer one day of in-person instruction a week for all students.

Clarendon 3 will start school on Sept. 8 and is also offering three options, though they are different. Students in kindergarten through second grade will be offered in-person instruction five days a week, and grades 3-12 will be offered two days of face-to-face instruction a week. All students can also choose to learn in an all-virtual capacity. Lee County School District plans to start class on Sept. 8 and will offer all students both a hybrid model with two days a week of face-to-face instruction and fully virtual learning. According to the state Department of Education, Lee’s plan approval was contingent on the district offering an in-person option no later than Sept. 14. Even when hybrid models are implemented by districts, public school students across the state have the option of remaining in full virtual instruction throughout the school year, given the coronavirus pandemic.

Masks required in all public school facilities

One of the most noticeable changes to school this fall and a step health care professionals have been promoting as the most effective way to prevent the virus’ spread if people must be around each other is the use of masks. "As we prepare to welcome students and teachers back to South Carolina classrooms for face-to-face instruction, it is imperative that we implement measures that are proven to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus," State Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman said. "Requiring the use of face masks for everyone in our school buildings in combination with other mitigation tactics will help ensure that we have safe learning environments even when optimal social distancing is not feasible." According to the state, the requirement while inside facilities and on school buses follows CDC guidance, which makes exceptions for children younger than 2, anyone who has trouble breathing or is unconscious and anyone who is incapacitated or unable to remove a cloth face covering without assistance. The CDC guidance also has considerations for clear face coverings for special populations of students and staff. The state department is purchasing and providing five cloth face masks for every teacher, bus driver, custodian and food service worker, has already purchased cloths masks for students and staff taking part in Academic Recovery Camps and will make masks available on school buses, on which Spearman announced earlier this week a requirement they be worn.

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