A mandate requiring all students, faculty and staff to wear masks while inside campus buildings was implemented by Winthrop University after the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled to uphold the University of South Carolina’s mask mandate, but Rock Hill schools are not given the same ability, as a state law forbids schools from enacting mask mandates.
The 2021-2022 education budget included a proviso that went into effect on July 1, prohibiting school districts from requiring students or employees to wear a face mask.
Chairman of the Rock Hill School Board Helena Miller said that even without the ability to mandate masks, the school board is doing what they can to protect students and faculty. Efforts include special rules against mask bullying, paid time off for employees to get vaccinated and contact tracing.
“When it comes to the Rock Hill school district, we have followed the mandates and the laws as have been provided to us throughout this health crisis, and we will continue to do so,” Miller said. “That said, we are obviously recommending and encouraging our staff, students, and visitors to wear masks.”
Winthrop University Interim President George W. Hynd broke the news of a mask mandate to students via email on Aug. 18.
Hynd said he is “very sympathetic to the public schools’ political dilemma they find themselves in” and that it was “very difficult” for him to understand why mask mandates would be outlawed.
“The impact of that decision affects us because we have many faculty and staff that have school-age children,” Hynd said. “So, one of the outcomes of not having adequate health care precautions, like requiring students to wear masks, is that our faculty and staff may have to … take care of their children if they are exposed to the COVID virus and have to stay home for 10 to 15 days. So that decision impacts us as well.”
Winthrop University is also requiring returning students to provide a negative COVID-19 test, proof of COVID-19 vaccination completion or a physician’s note stating the student had COVID-19 within the past 90 days. However, Rock Hill schools are also unable to implement this policy for multiple reasons.
“It’s very different [from Winthrop] because … the eligibility for vaccinations is different when you are talking about public school,” Miller said. “The emergency authorization [of the vaccine] is only for 12 years and up, and that effectively shuts out more than half of our student population. There are a lot of restrictions as far as what we can require.”
Hynd said the university does not have the “financial resources to do weekly testing.” However, he said the college has “engaged in a contract with the USC School of Pharmacy, and they are doing bi-weekly volunteer testing here on campus.”
With the appearance of the delta variant increasing the risk of outbreaks, and cases up to levels equivalent to January, school leaders are considering their available options to use during an outbreak among students. Miller said she and the board will consider each school and each class separately.
“In the past year, we very much looked at it from an individual classroom or an individual school level first,” Miller said. “Just because you have an increased number in one classroom doesn’t necessarily mean that is the case all over the district.
“It’s a question of analyzing everything every single day, and at the end of the day making sure … that our kids are safe and that our teachers are safe.”
To keep up with possible outbreaks on campus, Winthrop has a COVID Response Team, made up of healthcare professionals, student affairs and campus facilities that monitor data related to the coronavirus on campus and work to prevent outbreaks.
Unvaccinated students who have come in contact with an infected individual are required to quarantine, while vaccinated students are not. Students can also submit their symptoms through the online Patient Portal, prompting a COVID-19 test, allowing the Response Team to track infections.
Vaccinations are recommended by both Winthrop and Rock Hill Schools for those eligible. Hynd said 1,500 Winthrop students have uploaded proof of vaccination as of Aug. 13.
In addition, three vaccine clinics are being offered on campus this semester on Aug. 27, Sept. 16 and a final date which has not been set.
