<strong>From staff reports</strong>

The Beaufort County Board of Education on Friday, July 28 approved a revised 2020-21 school calendar that delays the first day of school from Aug. 17 until Sept. 8.

Gov. Henry McMaster endorsed a Sept. 8 opening day during a recent news conference in Columbia, and increasing numbers of South Carolina school districts are delaying their start dates.

Superintendent Frank Rodriguez recommended a Sept. 8 start to Board members at their last meeting on July 14, and the Board directed the superintendent to develop the revised calendar that it approved tonight.

“With the virus at such dangerous levels, delaying the first day of school until after Labor Day makes a lot of sense,” Rodriguez said in a release. “We’ll continue to monitor health-related data and do everything we can to keep our students and employees safe, and all of their families safe.”

The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control’s weekly metrics measuring COVID-19 infection rates have rated Beaufort County “High” in all three rating categories for five consecutive weeks. Since the pandemic began, more than 3,000 infections and 36 deaths – 26 in July this month alone – have been attributed to COVID-19 in Beaufort County.

Under the revised 2020-21 calendar, the district’s first day for students will be Tuesday, Sept. 8, the day after Labor Day. The final day of classes will be Thursday, June 17.

Schools will be closed for students on Nov. 3 (Election Day); Nov. 11 (Veterans Day); Nov. 25–27 (Thanksgiving); Dec. 24–Jan. 1, 2021 (winter break, classes resume on Monday, Jan. 4); Jan. 18, 2021 (Martin Luther King Jr. Day); Feb. 1 (teacher work day); Feb. 15, 2021 (President’s Day); April 2, 2021 (Good Friday); April 12–16, 2021 (spring break) and Monday, May 31 (Memorial Day).

Three possible weather make-up days are included: Nov. 25, Feb. 1 and June 18.

Teacher work days are Aug. 31–Sept. 4; Nov. 25; Feb. 1; and June 18–24.