Masks to be required for students in grades 3-12

COUNTY — The School District of Pickens County announced Monday that it has pushed the start of the school year back two weeks and will require masks for all students in grades 3-12 when social distancing is not possible as COVID-19 continues to spread throughout the community.

Originally scheduled to begin Aug. 10, the school year will now start Aug. 24 after the Pickens County School Board approved the change Tuesday morning. The district’s six-week plan for alternating face-to-face instruction and eLearning will remain in place with the new start date, according to officials.

“The past few weeks have been an enormous challenge for South Carolinians, and especially for educators and parents,” SDPC superintendent Danny Merck said in an email to parents Monday. “In the School District of Pickens County, we firmly believe that returning to school is vital for the mental, emotional and physical well-being of students. This belief has driven our plan to return to school as soon as possible.

“However, last week we have watched as the number of cases of COVID-19 continue to climb in Pickens County, and hospital beds across the Upstate fill with people suffering. The risks to students, staff and parents for a return to in-person instruction have far exceeded what we predicted during back-to-school planning as recently as two weeks ago.”

Merck said the risks have forced district officials to consider several changes.

“We need to delay the start of school to allow our staff more time to implement our safety plans and to allow the spread of coronavirus to subside,” he said.

The school district released its plan earlier this month to use a six-week schedule that includes both face-to-face instruction and online learning for students to help mitigate the spread of the virus.

“To protect our students and to make sure we have a healthy workforce, these schedules will be updated periodically as we continue to monitor community outbreaks,” Merck said in a letter sent to parents July 10.

Under the plan, the first two weeks of the school year will include face-to-face instruction for all students at school, while during the third week, only students in special programs and early childhood (3K-second grades) will attend in person, with all other students using eLearning. No students will be in schools in the fourth week, with eLearning for all, while the following two weeks will have all students at school with face-to-face instruction.

School District of Pickens County spokesman John Eby said Monday that the district will also have hand sanitizer stations installed in each classroom and a mask mandate for all employees.

Merck said in Monday’s email to parents that masks will also be required for all students in third grade and older when social distancing of at least 6 feet is not possible. He said masks are recommended for students of all ages.

“The decision to require masks was difficult, but necessary,” Merck said. “State, local and national health guidance has been unanimous in its support for masks as a key to stopping the spread of coronavirus. This is a life-safety issue, and schools commonly require students to alter their behavior and clothing for much less serious considerations.”

The district will allow medical exemptions to the mask requirements when approved by a physician, according to Merck.

Eby added that a major component of the district’s safety plan is “cohorting.”

“In effect, we are changing the school day so that students stay with the same homeroom group of students or a limited number of class groups for the entire day,” he said. “This reduces the number of weekly in-person contacts for students and staff.”

When it comes to social distancing, Eby said the fact is that teachers will have to work with children.

“Enforcing social distancing is much more challenging in practice than in theory,” Eby said. “Hygiene, cohorting, cleaning and masks will be central to a safe return.”

Merck said the district expects to adjust its plan “continuously through the year as conditions change and we receive new guidance from health officials.”

“Even with a start date of August 24, the possibility of returning to eLearning instead of face-to-face instruction is very real,” he said. “Few environments are more vulnerable to the spread of a contagious disease such as COVID-19 than schools. We must begin to see some decrease in the spread of COVID-19 in our community before returning in person.”

The superintendent asked for local residents’ help to battle the spread of the virus.

“Please wear a mask. Avoid large gatherings of people,” Merck said. “Follow the guidance of health officials so that the world our children are growing up in can begin to return to normal.”