COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina public schools are closed through the end of the school year.
Governor Henry McMaster and South Carolina Education Superintendent Molly Spearman announced that schools will remain closed around the state, through the end of the school year due to COVID-19.
For Midlands school districts, that means parents will continue homeschooling students from May 29th to June 5th.
The five biggest headlines from the education press conference are:
Graduations
Molly Spearman explained that high school seniors will have graduations, but they will done in a creative way.
"Your district leaders have sent us some very creative ideas of how they are planning on handling graduation," says Spearman. "We want those to go out."
She's leaving the decisions, of how graduations will be held, to the individual school districts.
School Lunches
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, school districts around the state have delivered five million meals to students. They will continue feeding children through the end of the school year.
Personal Belongings
Students and teachers will be able pick up their personal belongings that remain at the schools. The South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) is leaving it up to school districts to provide information on when and how these items can be retrieved.
Summer Reading Programs and Summer School
The summer reading program will take place this year. The challenge will be if the program is done virtually. Superintendent Molly Spearman says they are looking at options.
"There may be additional students now who may not only need help in reading but in mathematics," says Spearman. "So, we are working on guidelines for that."
She is considering using funding from the CARES Act to pay for the program. SCDE received $204 million for grades K-12.
Virtual summer school is also being considered, but could be pushed to a few weeks before the beginning of the next school year.
Education Task Force
A task force will be created to determine when and how students can return to school in the fall. It is expected to be made up of educators and medical professionals.
"Our school buses carry 78 students and we sit three to a seat," says Spearman. "Our classroom size typically is 800 square feet and you have 24 kids in a classroom. The only way to maintain social distancing is to have people standing in the corners."
She's anticipating making significant changes to how they operate a regular school day.
Her task force will also look at the digital divide that many school districts around the state have seen. Spearman says nearly 25 percent of school districts are in areas where internet access is limited and are using pen and paper to do homeschooling assignments.
While they plan on continuing to provide buses with hot spots for students, she says major changes have to be made to make sure that students have real internet access around the state.