Masks, plexiglass, air purifiers: HCS talk safety at final meeting before new school year

CONWAY, S.C. (WMBF) - With school set to start next Tuesday, the Horry County School Board met Monday to discuss back-to-school plans.

Unlike last school year, masks and plexiglass are a thing of the past.

The school board set its back-to-school plan in June, but Horry County Schools Superintendent Rick Maxey said he’s received countless questions recently about masks from parents.

He decided to set the record straight, saying the school legally cannot require masks right now.

“To answer the question, no, there will be no mandate to wear masks from Horry County Schools,” Maxey said during the meeting. “We will comply with South Carolina law.”

The superintendent says the district was told by the State Department of Education that a mask requirement would go against a proviso passed by the state legislature.

While they won’t be requiring masks, Maxey says the district is still encouraging them for all students and staff.

“There are instances now where even the vaccinated are testing positive for COVID, and in inside environments, the CDC does recommend people wear masks,” Maxey said.

The district also revealed it recycled one million pounds of plexiglass and was reimbursed a “small amount” for it.

While those preventative measures have been removed, the district has made strides on adding a different way to stop the spread: bipolar ionization systems. The units are designed to clean toxins from the air.

“We have installed nearly 1300 units so far,” said Daryl Brown, chief officer of support services. “We have about 850 left in phase 1. I won’t read them all, but as you can see, we’ve completed installation at those 15 schools.”

The district will also reactivate its coronavirus case dashboard, which will let parents and staff keep track of the case counts at each school and the number of students in quarantine.

One thing it will not show is a total count of how many of the positive or quarantined students are vaccinated.

“That’s what DHEC has advised us of is not to ask. But what we’ve found is that when we start the contact tracing, a lot of parents will say, ‘Can I provide you this information?’” said Velna Allen, chief officer of student services.

Allen says that if parents are willing submit vaccination records, they can use it for data entry. She added that if a student can show proof of vaccination, they won’t have to quarantine.

Allen says the school district has had 222 athletes quarantined in the past two months since summer practices started. Seven of those students have tested positive for the coronavirus.

Because of the county’s outbreak, the state athletic association has recommended the district move its regional games up in their schedules.

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