Earlier today, South Carolina Henry McMaster held his own at his press conference which was broadcast like everything is today via Facebook Live. He called on school districts across the state of South Carolina to provide an option that every parent who wants their kid to be back in school in the classroom 5 days per week will have that option. He also said they should have a virtual option as well. I did not watch the entire press conference but he made it sound like he’s recommending 2 options 1) 5 days per week of in classroom instruction or 2) virtual. Lastly, he is suggesting that the school districts push the start of the school out until September 8th due to the current level of Covid positive tests we’re seeing in South Carolina.
McMaster commented several times that virtual learning is not as good as in classroom instruction. I think everyone agrees with that. Now I have heard anecdotally from some local parents that they have been impressed with the e-learning option / platform that Greenville County Schools produced.
Just an hour or so ago, Greenville County Schools came out with a statement pushing back on the Governor’s suggestion that they be back in school 5 days per week. For all the details be sure to read the Greenville News story about Greenville County Schools’ response to the Governor.
It’s been kind of a tough day for Greenville County Schools. First the South Carolina State High School League came out and voted 13-1 to allow students to be able to participate in person summer workouts with their schools (Greenville was the 1 vote). About an hour after that Facebook Live session ended the Governor had his conference and made this push to open the schools.
The next month or two are setting up to be pretty crazy as the battle continues on how to open up the schools and if there will be any high school athletics this fall.
We still don’t know if our schools will be playing high school sports this fall. The South Carolina State High School League will hold a public meeting via Zoom tomorrow, July 15th at 8am eastern. It will be broadcast live from the SCHSL Facebook Page.
Greenville County Schools has done a nice job of communicating and surveying parents as to the level of interest and comfort with coming back to school in the fall of 2020. The past 3-4 weeks has made the decision about schools even more complicated, however.
If one thought it might be difficult to open the schools for 5 days of in classroom instruction given the requirements for social distancing, sanitation and general rule following prior to the recent surge in coronavirus cases, can you imagine the odds now given South Carolina and Greenville County are considered “hot spots?”
Greenville County Schools tweeted this message below out yesterday. They are going to do a Facebook Live on Thursday at 2pm to discuss the upcoming school year. Local news station, WYFF, ran a story about how time is running out to make a decision on opening the schools.
Based upon a Greenville County Schools employee survey they just conducted, a significant majority have concerns about coming back to school.
If you recall at the end of June, Greenville County Schools Athletics called off all summer training / practices that were going on. They’ve been called off until at least July 20th. If we are going to have a high school football season, normal practice is slated to start at the end of July. We’ll have to see what happens with that.
Here’s the latest positives cases of coronavirus in the state of South Carolina. You can see we’ve had a big run over the past 4-5 weeks.
Most parents I’ve spoken with want their kids to go back to school 5 days per week. The virtual Zoom learning generally did not work out so well. It’s estimated that the South Carolina public school system lost track of nearly 16,000 students. If we do this another year like this, we are doing our children a massive disservice.