'A very difficult weekend:' SC for Ed reacts to recent deaths of Dorchester District 2 employees - WIS10

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SUMMERVILLE, S.C. (WIS) - Dorchester District 2 in the Lowcountry lost three of its employees to COVID-19, SC for Ed announced over the weekend.

The organization said Clair Baisley, who had just accepted the assistant principal job at Spann Elementary, died this weekend. Beth Collins, a coach at Summerville High School, and Carla White, a cafeteria manager at Flowertown Elementary School, also passed last week.

In a statement, Dorchester District 2 officials later said a fourth member of the district community had passed in recent days but did not name the deceased employees or the cause of death.

Nicole Walker, an SC for Ed board member and high school teacher, said this is “unfortunate anecdotal evidence” of what problems she fears could surface across school districts in the coming months.

“It was a very sad weekend, a very difficult weekend,” she said. “People who get into education are typically here because they really love children, they really wanna work with children.”

The loss of these faculty members will have a far-reaching impact on the Lowcountry and beyond, she said.

“If you’ve ever been part of a community that has lost a student or lost a teacher, it is very difficult for that entire community,” Walker said. “And we feel strongly that it is disingenuous to talk about the mental health of students when you’re not doing everything you can to protect their mental health by creating as safe environment as possible.”

Walker said she’s spoken to many teachers who feel they weren’t able to decompress this summer as they have in years past.

In light of this tragic news, SC for Ed is calling for the state legislature to repeal two temporary laws in the state budget. One stipulates schools can only enroll up to five percent of a district’s students in virtual learning without losing state funding, and another says no state funds could be used to mandate masks in schools.

READ: Here are the temporary SC laws related to COVID-19, schools, masks and vaccines

“In our own classrooms here, where we typically would have had 17, 18 kids, we’re now busting 30, in some cases 35,” Walker said. “That’s too many students to be in a room. And if you’re going to tie our hands there, the minimum of what the state owes us is that mask mandate so that we can try to stay as safe as possible.”

On Friday, Richland School District 2 filed a petition with the South Carolina Supreme Court, seeking to put the ban on school mask mandates on pause until a clear decision is made on the law’s constitutionality.

Walker applauded the move, and that of Richland 1 to require students and staff to wear face coverings. She said she’s heard from many teachers in Lexington Richland 5 who are concerned that they’re not receiving the same protections.

On Thursday, Attorney General Alan Wilson filed suit against the City of Columbia over its school mask mandate. The AG’s office said the lawsuit includes “all cities, towns, counties, and school boards” that passed similar ordinances, which would include Richland County.

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'A very difficult weekend:' SC for Ed reacts to recent deaths of Dorchester District 2 employees - WIS10
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