SC school district that closed for COVID outbreak to reopen, but without masks
The Pickens County School District will reopen Monday after a significant increase in COVID-19 cases among students and teachers forced schools to close and shift to remote learning.
Masks will not be required, Darian Byrd, the district spokesman, said Wednesday.
“We are a divided county,” he said. “We did not feel good about going against the state.”
He referred to the state legislature’s budget proviso that said schools could not mandate masks or risk jeopardizing their state funding. Byrd said administrators and board members have thoroughly discussed the situation.
“Everybody has a different view,” he said.
In the end, they decided they did not want to pit students and their families against administrators and teachers. Administrators did not want to require teachers to enforce a mask mandate.
Clemson University, located in Pickens and Anderson counties, is requiring masks in all its buildings around the state. The University of South Carolina, South Carolina State and the College of Charleston have all announced mask mandates.
Recovery from cases
The week off allowed the district to recover somewhat from the spike in cases, Byrd said. The district has spent the week cleaning its 24 schools, and some teachers have served their quarantines and will be allowed back.
Last week, there was an increase of 142 new cases.
But the cases aren’t decreasing. As of Tuesday, the district had 187 positive cases among students and 28 among teachers.
The district reported 615 students and 67 teachers in quarantine, which means they were exposed but had not tested positive for the coronavirus.
Bryan said Wednesday that he expects 240 cases to be reported on the district website Thursday.
“That’s a massive increase,” he said.
One child remains hospitalized and is recovering. Two teachers are hospitalized, including one on a ventilator.
Parent protests
Still, on Monday, a group of 100 people protested the closing of schools outside the Pickens County district office in Easley. At times, the group became boisterous, shouting “We want school,” and placing large signs against the window and door.
“Let’s find another window,” one woman shouted, as a handful of children hurried around the side of the building.
One woman knocked repeatedly on the front door and stared into the office. Byrd said district personnel asked her to come inside and they discussed the situation.
Pickens County has 16,400 students and was on its ninth day of the new school year when the closing was announced.
In an emergency meeting Friday, the board was told the staff was “very concerned” as the delta variant was spreading throughout Pickens County. They announced after a closed session that they were closing school for a week.
When students return Monday, they will be told some simple things to try to stem the spread. Spread out, don’t breathe on each other and cover your mouth when you sneeze or cough.
He said administrators are fearful about what next week will bring. Byrd said school nurses face increased workloads in handling the COVID-19 spike in addition to their regular work. One nurse quit from the strain, Byrd said.
“This is going to be a nightmare for the whole state,” Byrd said.
