South Carolina governor urges schools to open for in-person classes

Source: The Hill | July 15, 2020 | Rebecca Klar

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) is urging schools to reopen after Labor Day as coronavirus cases continue to increase across the state. 

McMaster said Wednesday that each district will be required to submit a reopening plan that gives families an option to send children to school for five days a week. 

“We must give parents the choice. This is the only thing that we’re asking these districts to do today, is to give the parents the choice,” McMaster said at a briefing.

“If the parent wants to send their child back to school they should be able to do so, and to do so with confidence,” he added. “If the parents want to keep the child at home, they should be able to do that and to do it with confidence.” 

McMaster said he has asked the state Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman not to approve any district’s plan that doesn’t give parents the choice to send children to school for in-person instruction. 

Spearman, a Republican, was absent from McMaster’s press conference Wednesday, but the governor said she had been invited, according to The State. 

Spearman reportedly issued a statement at the same time as McMaster’s briefing that said reopening decisions should be made by local officials and that parents should have a choice between in-person and virtual instruction. In her statement, she also said that state can’t “turn a blind eye” to health risks the virus poses to adults and children, according to The State. 

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