SC bishops say child, teacher safety trumps Gov. McMaster’s bid to open all schools

Bishops representing nearly 1 million people in South Carolina in six mainstream denominations on Friday delivered a letter to Gov. Henry McMaster opposing his call for all public schools to open for five-day-a-week in-person instruction.

McMaster has said that parents should have a choice as to whether they want their child to go to school all five days rather than get instruction online. He recommended that schools open after Labor Day.

The bishops’ letter called on McMaster to “re-evaluate” his directive, which was not a mandate or stated in an executive order. The governor’s call doesn’t have the force of law to require schools to re-open.

“While we agree that in-person instruction for all our children is optimum, we do not believe that calling for an across-the-state, five-days-a-week return to school for instruction is either prudent or wise,” the bishops’ letter said.

A letter from state religious leaders opposing a governor is rare. But the bishops stressed their unusual public plea is being made because their highest priority is keeping children and teachers safe in a time when a potentially fatal contagious virus is raging across the state.

“The high number of cases of COVID-19 and the percentage of infections being reported daily across the state are more than alarming, with no dependable forecast of reductions,” the letter said. “Those metrics are primary barometers informing our own decisions.”

To open all schools simultaneously would put “enormous added strain on teachers and resources” who would have to provide both in-person instruction “while simultaneously providing online instruction for students whose parents chose to keep them home,” the letter said.

The safest course of action, the letter said, is to follow what State Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman and her department are doing. Spearman is letting decisions on how and when to re-open schools be left up to each school district, taking into account local conditions and how the coronavirus is spreading in that community.

“We support ... Molly Spearman’s course of receiving reopening plans from each district, approving only those plans demonstrating that the safety of all children, parents, teachers and administrators is a top priority,” the letter said.

On Wednesday, McMaster held a press conference alongside top Republican lawmakers to urge all schools to reopen on Sept. 8 as a way of helping educate students, letting parents go back to work and jump starting the economy. Other Republican leaders followed McMaster with their own pleas to educators to be courageous and to the public to make the choice to wear masks.

McMaster’s press event followed exhortations this month of President Trump and other administration officials, such as Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, to urge state and local officials to put students back in school. In recent weeks, the virus appears to be accelerating in the U.S. more than any other place in the world, with some 76,000 new cases reported on Thursday.

And the governor’s call came during a week when COVID-19 cases are surging across South Carolina. On Thursday, the state reported a record number of deaths for the day, although Thursday’s total contained data from several days.

The bishops’ letter stressed that a lack of proper planning would be dangerous.

“Merely returning to what is familiar is not only impossible, it poses an unacceptable risk to health and safety,” the letter said.

Bishops, who are state or regional administrative leaders of their denominations are: Samuel L. Green Sr., Seventh District, African Methodist Episcopal Church; the Most Rev. Robert E. Guglielmone, Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston; L. Jonathan Holston, S.C. Conference, The United Methodist Church; the Rt. Rev. W. Andrew Waldo, the Episcopal Diocese of Upper South Carolina; James B. Walker, Seventh Episcopal District, Christian Methodist Episcopal Church; and Herman R. Yoos, S.C. Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Numerous details must be considered before opening a school district. They include how to disinfect classrooms, procedures to follow if a student or teacher becomes infected and the types of protective equipment available for teachers and students. Distance learning presents its own issues, including that many students do not own computers or have access to the Internet.

McMaster’s call to jump-start schools for all students has generated opposition across South Carolina, including from teachers groups and school district officials.

McMaster had no immediate response to the bishops’ letter.

This story was originally published July 17, 2020 at 4:25 PM.