COLOMBIA – The fight over when students in the Richland One school district should return to classrooms amid the COVID-19 outbreak has divided teachers, parents and advocates for education.
Now, it is infiltrating the capital city’s legislative delegation and sparking a discussion about how far legislators should go when entering disputes with the local government.
More than 1,000 parents clamoring for a return to face-to-face classes have brought their concerns to several legislators in Richland County, saying they have been ignored by district leaders. This eventually led to an exchange of ideas between State Representative Beth Bernstein, D-Columbia and Craig Witherspoon, head of South Carolina’s ninth largest school district, during a webinar in December.
What exactly was said remains unknown, but after that, one of Bernstein’s political allies said the whole situation was poorly managed.
“You don’t go to the barbershop to get your coffee. We need to know what is appropriate and where to go, ”said state deputy Leon Howard, a Democrat from Columbia and chairman of the Richland County Legislative Delegation.
The race is playing a role in the fight, Howard said, although he does not think Bernstein, who is white, is racist. Witherspoon is black.
What triggered the escalation in the dispute between Bernstein and Witherspoon is unclear why The Hunt Institute, a North Carolina-based nonprofit that hosted the December 15 online session, declined requests from the Post and Courier for a recording the webinar.
Bernstein said Witherspoon was “quite defensive and disrespectful” during the webinar.
“I was surprised to be treated so harshly by him, and I can understand why parents feel that their voices are not being heard,” said Bernstein in a December 18 letter to the then president of the Richland One school board, Jamie Devine, who asked her to publicly apologize for the interaction.
Richland One’s 24,000 students began returning to classrooms part-time on Halloween week – later than many of their classmates.
A September 14 petition, signed by 1,123 parents, called on Richland One leaders to immediately offer face-to-face learning after the district decided to start with fully virtual classes. After the organizers felt ignored by the leaders of the Richland One, the petition ended up in the offices of Bernstein and state deputy Kirkman Finlay, also from Columbia.
Lawmakers met privately with Witherspoon on October 6 to discuss concerns raised by parents – conversations that Bernstein described as fruitless and plagued by the superintendent’s “dismissive” and “disinterested” tone.
Bernstein took his next opportunity to get involved with Witherspoon, following his apparent lack of communication with parents, during the December invitation-only webinar.
State Senator Darrell Jackson, D-Hopkins, moderated the forum, but declined to comment, except to say that the webinar “was not the place for this type of exchange”.
Howard, who is black, said Bernstein’s approach also evoked painful memories of racial abuse from a not-too-distant past, but he called her a “wonderful person”.
Howard said he and Bernstein did not discuss the matter, but added that they have a “cordial relationship”.
“We came in a different environment, where we were disrespected by whites, and I don’t think Beth is that kind of person, but that is in the soul of a black man,” said Howard. “Cultural diversity and an understanding of people’s history have a lot to do with behavior.”
Howard pointed to a 2019 incident between state senator Dick Harpootlian, D-Columbia, and a member of the legislative delegation team, James Brown. Brown accused the former Democratic state president of a “foul speech” that Howard told the Post and Courier left Brown with “flashbacks of how the whites treated him on the farm”.
Harpootlian apologized for his outburst, but not for the substance behind his argument that delegation personnel were a waste of taxpayer dollars.
While he said Bernstein used softer language, Howard questioned his approach to Witherspoon.
“The big picture is respect and procedure,” he said. “I understand that a thousand parents signed a petition and the parents deserve to be recognized, but the process and the way it did it were inadequate.”
Neither Howard nor Devine, who is also black, attended the December 15 webinar, but the school district commissioner told the Post and Courier that he did not change his position.
“I keep my letter. It is about being able to disagree without being disrespectful, ”he said in a brief statement.
Bernstein said he respects the autonomy of the school district and is not trying to influence political decisions.
“We wanted to stay on our own path – not to get involved in school board issues, as the board was elected to deal with these issues – but we felt that Dr. Witherspoon should contact these parents and communicate why it was not viable. go back to face-to-face learning if that is the district’s decision, ”said Bernstein in an email to the Post and Courier.
Howard said Bernstein should not apologize if he felt he did it correctly, saying it would be an empty gesture. And Bernstein made it clear that he has no intention of doing so.
“I will not be silenced or intimidated by you or Dr. Witherspoon,” she wrote to Devine.
Richland One spokeswoman Karen York said that district authorities worked tirelessly to make the best decisions for their 24,000 students, including creating a reopening landing page on their website and consulting with a more skilled task force. of 100 members.
“We also listen to our parents. Some parents said and still say that we should continue with virtual learning until it is safe to resume normal education face to face, ”said York in a statement. “We also listen to parents who want us to return now to four or five days of face-to-face classes. We can appreciate all opinions about the circumstances in which we find ourselves due to this unprecedented pandemic. “
All district classes are being conducted virtually until at least January 19th to avoid a post-holiday increase in coronavirus cases. Before winter holidays, students stayed behind their desks two days a week.
Since January 7, more than 240 students and staff have tested positive for COVID-19 since the beginning of the school year, with 25 active cases.
“We looked at the data, including COVID-19 numbers for Richland County and Richland One, and tried to make the best possible decisions for our students and staff. Associated with the impact of COVID-19 in the district is the availability of the necessary staff to ensure safe operations, ”said York.
