Richland County School District One will continue virtual-only learning through January, Superintendent Craig Witherspoon announced Tuesday.
Witherspoon said district officials at the large midlands district in Columbia, South Carolina decided extend the virtual learning period through “at least” January 29 due to increasing COVID-19 cases.
He said Richland One officials “do not want to create a situation in which a series of schools may open only to have to close due to staffing concerns due to COVID-19 positivity rates, isolation and quarantine protocols.”
The extended virtual-learning period “allows the district an opportunity to assess vaccination protocols for teachers and other staff,” he said.
As of Monday, Richland One had 18 active student COVID-19 cases and 18 active employee cases, according to the district’s dashboard (below). Richland One has more than 22,000 students and 4,500 employees.
A report released this week confirms what many have feared — remote learning is not working in South Carolina and students are falling even further behind in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The report — which compiled data from test scores of 222,000 South Carolina students in grades 3-8 — projected that 70 percent of students who took Measure of Academic Progress (MAP) growth tests in the fall will not meet grade level standards in English/ language arts and math this year.
As of Monday, 13 of South Carolina’s 79 districts were virtual-only.
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