Fifteen students at Thomas C. Cario Middle School in the Charleston County School District (CCSD) will continue their distance learning until at least Oct. 15 – when administrators will reconsider the mask policy, said the CNN district spokesperson Andy Pruitt.
In addition, students from other schools were also sent home, although Pruitt did not say how many.
Some parents rallied outside the middle school to protest students being sent home for failing to meet the mask requirement, he said.
The school district board of directors voted last week to require everyone to wear a face covering in all schools and CCSD properties as well as on school transportation. The district has about 49,000 students in 88 schools and specialty programs, according to the district’s website.
“It remains our collective opinion that wearing face masks in school is an essential health and safety measure. This simple act by each of us will help prevent serious illness or death from COVID and reduce the number students forced to quarantine, “he added. Board of Directors said at the time of its vote.
The policy went into effect on September 20, but it wasn’t fully implemented until Wednesday.
Mask warrants in schools have become a polarizing issue – especially in states like Texas and Florida, where legal battles have taken place between local and state authorities.
The level of transmission of Covid-19 in South Carolina is high, according to the CDC, which defines this category as having 100 or more cases per 100,000 people or a positivity rate of 10% or more over a 7-day period.
CNN’s Liz Stark contributed to this report.
