Reopening plan for Horry County Schools approved by state

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WMBF) – The proposed reopening plan for Horry County Schools has been approved by the South Carolina Department of Education.

In a letter Monday, State Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman said the approval is “contingent upon the district and the SCDE reevaluating the district’s in-person option every two weeks, beginning with the district’s official start date.”

READ THE LETTER IN ITS ENTIRETY HERE.

The Horry County School Board voted in favor of sending the proposed plan to the state last week.

Parents will have two options for their kids’ learning environment during the pandemic:

“Brick-and-Mortar” or a traditional way of schooling
Attend K-12 virtual program

Superintendent Dr. Rick Maxey said that if parents choose traditional schooling, their first day of school will be Sept. 8.

However, there are factors that will be determined by the South Carolina disease activity report. Information from the report that will be released on Aug. 31 will determine how students will go to class.

If the report determines “low spread” of the disease, then HCS students will return to full-time traditional schooling for five days a week.
If the report determines “medium spread” then the students will take part in a hybrid combination of face-to-face and distance learning. There will be two days of face-to-face instruction and three days of distance learning.
If the report determines “high spread” then schooling will start on Sept. 8 with five days of distance learning.

The deadline for Horry County parents to sign their children up for virtual learning ahead of the upcoming school year is Monday, Aug. 10.

In addition to Horry County, Florence County School District Two and Florence County School District Three also had their reopening plans approved by the state officials, it was announced Monday.