AIKEN, S.C. (WJBF)- Monday morning, parents in Aiken County received a survey from the district asking only two questions. Those question made a lot of people very angry.
Those questions were about masks and vaccines. The district wanted to know if parents would support mask mandates and mandatory vaccines.
Parents took to social media shortly after that survey was sent out and many were very angry.
“The first one, the easiest one, is I’m not ok with mandatory vaccines. I think that is…it’s a dangerous step in my opinion to make it mandatory for someone to inject something into their body without their consent,” Megan Morgan whose child is a first grader in Aiken County.
Morgan said she’s on the fence about the mask issue, seeing the benefits, but also that people have strong feelings against them.
South Carolina law prohibits mask mandates and hybrid school. With more than 5,000 students quarantined and more than 350 positive student cases, the Aiken County School System is scrambling to figure out how to keep students and staff safe. Morgan said she doesn’t know what the answer is.
“My first thought process when the school year was happening was, well, maybe we can do a half hybrid, or half in school. You know, whoever is comfortable with being in school, let them be in school. And whoever wants to be virtual, let them be virtual.”
Morgan tells us she believes the district is doing the best it can under the circumstances.
A district representative says the survey is purely for informational purposes. It is optional and isn’t even an item for discussion on the school board’s agenda. Parents of Aiken County students can find that survey link in the email provided to the district.