Millwood parent worried after COVID-19 case at Sumter school

One Millwood Elementary School parent says she is in a dilemma now with virtual education after her child's classroom teacher tested positive for COVID-19 this week.

Candice Cocklin, a mother of three Sumter School District students including two at Millwood, spoke Friday after learning Wednesday that her daughter, a fourth-grader who receives special-education services, must quarantine now for two weeks after her teacher was diagnosed with COVID-19.

Cocklin said she is concerned for her daughter's health and educational status and also for one of her sons, who is a fifth-grader receiving special-education services at the same school. As a sibling, he is not required to quarantine, but the mother pulled him out of the classroom anyway.

Cocklin said she is also worried about her two parents - both in their 70s with major health issues - who have been regularly involved with the children. Given her children's skill levels, the mother said they learn better in a face-to-face environment.

"My daughter has to go virtual now, and my son will as well," Cocklin said. "But, they don't comprehend well in virtual learning."

She received a letter from Millwood Principal Cornelius Leach on Wednesday that said her daughter could return to the school for hybrid instruction Nov. 5. But, given her circumstances, she plans to keep both in virtual instruction.

"After that scare, I won't be sending them back," she said. "I want them to virtually learn, but I hope the school can put something into place for kids who are like mine."

Cocklin said she wants the school to offer free tutoring to the two students or potentially one-on-one instruction with a substitute teacher.

The two children were tested for the virus on Thursday, she said. Cocklin said she is expecting results back in a couple days.

After a phone conversation with Leach on Friday, Cocklin said she will meet with him and the school's IEP team this upcoming week to consider other alternatives for her children.

District spokeswoman Shelly Galloway said Friday that the team will lend support to the students beyond virtual learning.

Since Oct. 16, the district has had nine confirmed cases at six schools, including Millwood, Galloway said.

The district works in conjunction with the state Department of Health and Environmental Control, she said, when a person from a school tests positive. Standard protocol is for the school's nurse to conduct contact tracing, and anyone who has been in close contact with the COVID-19 positive individual during the time he/she was contagious must be excluded from school, or quarantine, for 14 days after the last contact.

Parents of any student who is determined to have had close contact with someone who is COVID-19 positive are notified the same day by school personnel through a phone call and/or email, according to protocol.

Based on the district's information, Galloway added, all contact tracing of confirmed cases to date has revealed those individuals didn't contract the virus at school but elsewhere.

The entire district began in a fully virtual capacity with instruction on Aug. 28. Phase 1 of hybrid instruction began on Sept. 28 for all English language learners and students who receive special-education services in all grades, pre-K-12. Next, prekindergarten, kindergarten and first-grade students began hybrid on Oct. 1.

Phase 2 of hybrid instruction begins Monday, and phases 3 and 4 are tentatively scheduled to begin in November. Parents do have the option for their children to remain in virtual instruction for the entire semester.