COLUMBIA, SC (WBTW) – State educators are trying to figure out what school will look like for kids in the summer and fall.

Classrooms in the Carolinas will stay closed through the end of this school year and whenever kids and teachers return, class will probably look very different.

“There’s not a guidebook really to go by because nobody’s ever experienced this before,” said Alan Walters, who’s the executive director of safety and risk management for the Georgetown County School District.

Walters is also a member of the state’s AccelerateED task force. He’s leading a subcommittee on it for buildings and school services.

State superintendent Molly Spearman held AccelerateED’s first virtual meeting Thursday. The goal is to safely reopen schools in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

Walters says not only will the classrooms have to change for physical distancing, but the way many kids get to school will too.

“We’re not going to be able to put 78 kids on a bus like we used to do,” he said. “Do you do school every day for everybody? Do you split the day up? Do you do half of them one day, half of them the next?”

Depending on the virus, online learning may still be used as part of classes in the fall. Classes could also be exclusively online again in the fall in a worst case scenario.

That’s why AccelerateED is also looking to improve e-learning programs for every kid.

“We do have devices that we issue to our population, but based on the amount on bandwidth that they have within their household, virtual learning may not be accessible,” said Tonya Addison, who’s the administrator for Florence School District Four and a member of the AccelerateED task force.

Walters says the coronavirus may cause permanent changes for schools.

“I think, ultimately, as far as buildings go, this may cause us to rethink how schools are built in the future,” he said.

In the meantime, one of the first goals is to safely restart in-person summer reading and math camps so kindergarten through eighth grade students who may have had trouble with e-learning don’t fall far behind.

“It’s extremely important, especially for K-3,” Walters said. “Literacy is just so huge.”

The state education department proposes starting those summer programs, which usually start in June, at least one month later in July.