RICHLAND COUNTY, S.C. — "To my colleagues, I'm a little puzzled as a board member tonight because we all took an oath. And the oath is to serve and protect children,” said Richland district one commissioner Cheryl Harris.
Harris shifted the conversation away from the agenda to address the concerns she’s heard from district parents. "I hear parents, Mr. Chair, deciding to remove their kids from our district because they feel we can't protect their child. That's money lost. It's a lose-lose,” she said.
Harris has been outspoken in her opposition to the state proviso that bans schools from using state funding to enforce the mask mandate. Her argument is that the school board should be doing more to work around it.
"This thing that we've got on our face matters. It's a piece of cloth with two strings. And it's just to limit the spread of the virus,” Harris said.
Commissioner Aaron Bishop said the district is unsure what other options it has. "I just wanna know how to do it right. If you have an opinion about how it is to be done, well, give us your opinion on how to do it right,” Bishop said.
The district says on its website there is a face covering policy in place. This policy will allow students to opt out of wearing masks if a parent signs a waiver.
Classes start back up on August 18. Bishop says only time will tell how the school year pans out.
"When all gets personal, let's just pray we understand each other better,” he said.
The next Richland One board meeting is at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, August 24 at C.A. Johnson High School.