Lexington, SC 09/21/2021 (Paul Kirby) - Just over a week ago, the administrative staff of Lexington School District One sent a one-question survey to parents, guardians, and staff members regarding the use of face coverings in its schools. They did this to give their stakeholders an opportunity to voice their opinion about the use of masks in District One schools. The survey was open for six days to provide ample time for everyone to answer and return the simple survey.
After compiling the results, the district’s staff says that nearly 75% of their parents/guardians completed the survey, with 12,985 households responding. Lexington District One consists of about 17,500 households made up of 28,000 students.
Of those households, 69.8% agreed that the Lexington District One Board of Trustees should consider temporarily requiring masks in times of high community spread as designated by the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) so that they could maximize face-to-face learning and prevent more instances of switching schools to virtual breaks because of the pandemic.
As for their staff, 81% completed the survey. Staff members agreed that the school board should consider a temporary mask requirement by a margin of 69%.
“For months, we have heard from a small and vocal group of parents and staff on both sides of the mask debate,” said Board of Trustees Chair Anne Marie Green. “We wanted to know how our entire community truly felt about masking. The results of this survey reveal that an overwhelming majority of our families and staff are in favor of our local school board being able to implement a temporary mask requirement to keep students and staff safe during periods of high community spread. During our September meeting, we will consider a resolution urging the General Assembly to repeal Proviso 1.108 to restore local control in this matter. If adopted, this will enable school boards to react quickly when our communities are experiencing high spread of the virus and equip us to better protect our students and staff,” Green concluded.
