Darlington County schools aim to reopen Sept. 8
Last night, the Darlington County School Board unanimously accepted county Education Superintendent Tim Newman’s recommendation that the county try to reopen its public schools Sept. 8.
But officials emphasized that everything depended on how severe the COVID-19 pandemic is by then.
If the pandemic dies down to a level that allows it, school officials hope to reopen all schools five days a week, with smaller classes, social distancing, masks and other virus-control measures.
But the pandemic might only make it possible to operate schools three days or two days a week or not at all. If officials decide the schools cannot be reopened, all students will spend the semester taking computer classes from home. The district is setting up a “virtual academy” that students can choose to enroll in regardless of the virus situation if students and their parents want to avoid any possible COVID-19 risk. This academy will operate all day, every day, and will be more rigorous than the “emergency” e-learning system students used from March until the end of the school year.
