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September 29, 2022

The Talbot Spy

The nonprofit e-newspaper for the Talbot County Community

Education Ed Homepage

Report: QA’s Schools Chief Out on Sick Leave

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According to The Baltimore Sun:

“The reason Queen Anne’s County schools superintendent Andrea M. Kane has been absent from her job since Oct. 9 is that she has been on sick leave, a spokesman for the county superintendent’s office said Tuesday.

“’The Queen Anne’s County Board of Education has Dr. Kane’s doctor’s notes for sick leave,’ the spokesman, John White, said in an email Tuesday to The Baltimore Sun.”

The school board is holding a work session at 5 p.m. today, which includes an update on the school system’s recovery plan. The meeting will be broadcast live at qac.org/live.

Tonight’s work session agenda also lists a closed session to discuss personnel issues, negotiations, an administrative function, and to get legal advice.

The board’s next regular meeting is set for Nov. 4.

On Untraditional First Day of School, Hogan Still Hopes For More In-Person Instruction

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Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. visited three schools in Caroline County as they opened for limited in-person instruction on Tuesday, marking the start of a less-than-traditional school year for thousands of Maryland students.

Hogan, along with State Superintendent of Schools Karen B. Salmon, visited North Caroline High School, Lockerman Middle School, and Denton Elementary School on Tuesday. Caroline County is one of 16 jurisdictions that plans to slowly phase in limited in-person instruction this fall.

Plans for in-person instruction vary by jurisdiction, with most counties planning a phased return to masked, socially distanced instruction for certain students. Students with special needs, and those who may not have access to the internet at home, are among those being brought back for in-person instruction, Caroline County Public Schools Superintendent Patricia Saelens said.

Hogan said eight jurisdictions declined to open for any in-person instruction for fall semester, but said he hopes those school systems reconsider and offer some in-person instruction to students who need it.

“We asked them to go back and take another look at that by the end of the first quarter to see if there weren’t some special needs kids and some folks that are really going to suffer by not having in person instruction,” Hogan said of the jurisdictions that decided not to reopen. He noted that the decision ultimately rests with local school boards.

Salmon said local boards of education will be tracking COVID-19 cases in their districts throughout the year. She said she’s hopeful that limited in-person instruction won’t pose a huge threat of infection for students, and pointed out that Worcester and Calvert counties held in-person summer school with no reported cases.

Hogan and Salmon’s visits to Caroline County schools came a week after the State Board of Education mandated school systems across the state to have an average of 3.5 hours a day of live virtual learning by the end of 2020.

The 3.5 hours of live learning was criticized by local school boards and teachers’ unions, with some saying schools weren’t given enough time to meet the new standards.

“I’m still really disappointed in the timing and manner at which this has played out,” Lori Morrow of Prince George’s County, the parent member of the state school board, said during a state board meeting last week.

Some, including Democratic Maryland Comptroller and 2022 gubernatorial candidate Peter Franchot, have warned that in-person instruction could lead to the spread of COVID-19. In a Board of Public Works meeting last Wednesday, Franchot called in-person instruction a “huge medical experiment.”

“I want to applaud the majority of county school boards that have chosen to heed the advice of experts and follow science, and not cave in under pressure from folks down the road in Washington who want to downplay the gravity of this disease,” Franchot said.

By Bennett Leckrone

Franchot: In-Person Instruction Is a ‘Huge Medical Experiment’

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With a new academic year starting, and local school systems wrestling with how best to educate children amid a public health crisis, Comptroller Peter V.R. Franchot (D) came out this week squarely for remote instruction, urging county leaders not to give in to “pressure” to bring students back to the classroom.

In urging caution, Franchot, an announced candidate for governor in 2022, is aligning himself with the state’s powerful teachers’ unions. His views are in stark contrast with those held by Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R), a frequent ally.

“I happen to have very strong concerns about in-person K-thru-12 and even higher ed institutions,” Franchot said on Wednesday, during the freewheeling opening moments of the Board of Public Works’ twice-monthly meeting. 

“Let’s be honest about what young people do. They get together in groups,” he added. “I just think we’re being prematurely rushed — I hope we’re not — in the face of a virus which is far from contained nationally.”

Over the last two weeks, Hogan has pushed local school systems to incorporate at least some in-person instruction into their fall calendars, saying Maryland’s COVID-19 metrics have sufficiently improved for them to do so. Some local leaders and the Maryland State Education Association said his statements would have had more value weeks earlier, when plans for the 2020-21 school year were being formulated.

And as if to buttress Franchot’s argument, the University of Maryland College Park announced this week that it was canceling all fall athletics. 

Franchot didn’t accuse Hogan of applying untoward pressure, instead blaming national leaders. “I want to applaud the majority of county school boards that have chosen to heed the advice of experts and follow science, and not cave in under pressure from folks down the road in Washington who want to downplay the gravity of this disease,” he said.  

Observers suggested that Franchot is positioning himself to be a contender for the coveted teachers’ union endorsement two years from now when he seeks the seat Hogan will vacate because of term limits. 

“He’s got a platform and he’s trying to use it to form as much of an alliance as he can with folks he thinks he’s going to want supporting him down the road,” said former Prince George’s County Executive Rushern L. Baker III (D), who ran for governor in 2018.

Franchot has clashed repeatedly with Democrats in the General Assembly on a wide range of issues during his lengthy tenure as comptroller. Baker, a former state delegate, sees repair work taking place.

“The relationship between Franchot and the Democratic Party has been strained,” he said. “So now he’s looking for an opportunity to walk back some of those things or make up for it.” 

Another Democrat who ran for governor suspects Franchot and his team have glimpsed polling on the ongoing debate about in-person instruction.

“He must have done polling in Montgomery, for sure, and maybe Prince George’s, where parents want their kids home,” said the Democrat, who declined to be quoted by name. “So he must have access to information — polling information and that kind of data — that totally supports what he’s saying.” 

Franchot’s discourse on the perils of bringing students back to the classroom went on for several moments, as a stone-faced Hogan and Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp (D), the other members of the Board of Public Works, listened.

Franchot said any school that opens its doors now is engaging in a “huge medical experiment.” 

“I would be very concerned if a family member of mine was forced to teach in-person, given the widespread existence of the virus as we head particularly into the flu season,” he said. 

Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, the state’s largest school districts, have said it will be January at the earliest before traditional teaching resumes.

“I for one would not be personally comfortable sending my kids to school in this environment,” Franchot said. “I would wait and try to do it virtually until January when the picture will be clearer as far as what the virus’s impacts on young people is.”

Senate President Emeritus Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert) said each county is “very much unique” and therefore entitled to make its own decisions. He believes a “hybrid” approach — a mix of in-person and virtual instruction — “is probably the best we can hope for” given the current state of the pandemic. 

Because local superintendents and boards have been working with their teachers and PTA’s for weeks in preparation for the start of school, Miller said it’s “way too late” for Franchot, or other state leaders, to offer meaningful advice.

“For him to opine at this point in time is as bad as what the governor did two weeks ago,” he said. “The plans are in place. School has started. And we need to move forward and let each board of education and each county move forward at its own pace.” 

By Bruce DePuyt

State Ed. Board Mandates Average of 3.5 Hours of Live Learning a Day by Year’s End

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The Maryland State Board of Education Tuesday approved a measure to require all school systems to have an average of 3.5 hours a day of live virtual learning by the end of 2020.

State Superintendent of Schools Karen B. Salmon emphasized that this standard is to ensure equity and consistency for all students across the state, especially those in school districts that were “planning last minute to go virtual for a whole half of the school year, which is 90 days,” she said.

The board also asked school systems that have indicated that they were not returning students to in-person learning until the second half of the school year to reevaluate their reopening plans by the end of the first quarter — or after nine weeks — and to submit their new plans to the Maryland State Department of Education.

Prince George’s and Montgomery counties, the two largest school districts in the state, have announced that they are remaining virtual for most of the first semester.

Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) applauded MSDE for its decision.

“I want to thank the State Board of Education for their vote today, which calls on those counties to at least go back and reevaluate their modes of instruction before the end of the year,” he said during a late afternoon news conference Tuesday.

Late last week, Hogan announced that every local school system is allowed to begin safely reopening their buildings for in-person learning due to low COVID-19 case numbers. He urged the eight districts that planned to remain virtual for most of the first semester to reconsider their plans to include for at least some face-to-face learning.

Many local school boards, elected officials and the teachers’ union pushed back last week, saying that local schools were not given enough time to change their schedule to meet these newly established standards, especially with only a week left before the first day of school.

“I’m still really disappointed in the timing and manner at which this has played out,” Lori Morrow of Prince George’s County, the parent member of the state school board, said during Tuesday’s board meeting. The board only received these new recommendations Friday evening and the presentation slides were not posted publicly to MSDE’s website until Saturday morning, she said.

In response, the state board revised the requirement to an average of 3.5 hours of synchronous learning across all grades (K through 12) every day, instead of a minimum, to give schools more flexibility. Half-day pre-K school days must include a minimum of 1.5 hours of live learning spread out over the half day, according to the new regulations.

A school district can offer more hours of synchronous learning one day and less on other days, as long as the average is 3.5 hours, school board member Gail H. Bates said.

The deadline to meet these standards was deferred to the end of the calendar year, instead of the end of this month.

The Maryland State Education Association hailed the more than 20,000 Marylanders who signed an online petition in recent days that called for no mandated schedule changes until after the first quarter of the school year.

“We appreciate that the State Board of Education rejected Superintendent Salmon’s last-minute proposal to rip up local school schedules in a matter of weeks without thought for the confusion, stress, and chaos that would ensue,” Cheryl Bost, the president of Maryland State Education Association, said in a statement during the board meeting.

This conversation would have been useful months earlier, Bost said. “The poor communication and sudden changes coming from the State Department of Education and state leadership are deeply concerning and in dire need of improvement.”

School superintendents similarly expressed their frustration with the late timing of these new standards.

Kelly Griffith, superintendent, Talbot County Public Schools

“These untimely requirements after our plans have been approved are a powerful departure from the traditional cooperation between the LEAs (local education agency) and the Board. These recommendations are rigid, lack basis in any specific academic research, and are extremely severe in what to date, has been a partnership during this crisis,” Kelly Griffith, the president of the Public School Superintendents’ Association of Maryland, wrote Monday in a letter to Salmon and Clarence Crawford, the president of the state Board of Education.

Superintendents said they appreciate statewide standards and the goal to ensure equity, but believe these decisions should have been made collaboratively with local superintendents, Griffith continued.

‘You can’t have a blanket number for all students’

Some educators doubt that mandating a set amount of live learning would achieve more equity.

There are hundreds of students who do not have resources at home where they can sit quietly and log on for class, Kevin Shindel, a social studies teacher at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, said in an interview. Children of working class families, who cannot help younger children as much, will especially will be at a disadvantage

“That’s [mandated average of 3.5 hours of live learning], not equality, it actually further diminishes their capacity to keep up,” Shindel said.

Rose Li, a school board member from Montgomery County, asked multiple times how Salmon decided on 3.5 hours as the optimal synchronous learning allotment. If the requirement was 3 hours rather than 3.5 hours, 16 of the 24 districts would not need to change their schedules, Li said.

“We believe an average of 3.5 hours of synchronous instruction daily across all grades allows students to remain connected to their teachers and is the best solution for replicating a level of beneficial interaction in a physical classroom with the synchronous time spread out throughout the day more like a real instructional situation when not virtual,” said Lora Rakowski, a spokeswoman for MSDE.

Henry Smith, an assistant professor at John Hopkins School of Education, said he thinks these new standards are not going to help anyone except the school board and superintendents to use as metrics and to be able to record the total hours of live learning they have offered to students.

“You can’t have a blanket number for all children,” he said in an interview. “Especially younger students, special needs students and ESL students cannot have the same metric as a high school student whose first language is English.”

Having a qualitative metric, instead of a quantitative one, that thoroughly assess the quality of synchronous learning, no matter how long they are, would be much more effective, he said.

“The debates about the amount of time of synchronous learning are so off target from what we should be talking about,” Shindel said. “If you really wanted to enhance student engagement, you have to give teachers training and time to plan, not just make them put students in a Zoom [meeting] more often.”

“Quantity is not the same as the quality of instruction.”

By Elizabeth Shwe

Griffith: Talbot School Opening Plans Consistent with State Push for In-Person Learning

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While Talbot schools will open the year virtually, the school system’s plan for instruction calls for small groups of students to attend in-person learning beginning the second week of school, according to the county’s school superintendent.

Responding to a Thursday afternoon press conference in which Gov. Larry Hogan pushed Maryland schools to provide in-school instruction, Kelly Griffith said the school system had worked with workgroups and a stakeholder committee to create its recovery plan.

“I am very proud of the collaborative efforts of the TCPS Recovery workgroups and the work of the stakeholder committee in the creation of our recovery plan, as it aligns with expectations and provides measures to be in place to ensure a safe work/learning environment for all,” Griffith said in a press release.  “We will proceed with beginning the school year virtually, but as our plan outlines, we will bring small groups of students in special populations into school buildings starting the second week of school.”

Talbot’s school superintendent also said she appreciated the statewide health metrics for schools that the Maryland health department issued on Thursday.

School will start virtually for all Talbot County public school students on Tuesday, Sept. 8. Teachers reported for work on Monday, Aug. 24.

The Talbot County Board of Education approved the recovery plan for the 2020-21 school year during its Aug. 12 meeting.

Recovery 8-14-2020-F

 

Dr. Jinlene Chan, Maryland’s acting deputy secretary of public health services, announced new metrics Thursday for school systems to use to evaluate whether it is safe to reopen for at least some face-to-face instruction.

If a school jurisdiction has below 5% test positivity, or five cases per 100,000 people over a seven-day period, it should have the ability to hold in-person instruction, as long as students, teachers and staff follow physical distancing and mask-wearing guidance, Chan said.

Even schools with positivity rates above 5% should still be able to open for at least some in-person learning in a hybrid model, she continued.

Hogan, in Thursday’s press conference, said every school system in the state is allowed to begin safely reopening schools for in-person learning.

“Nearly everyone agrees that there is no substitute for in-person instruction,” Hogan said.

All 24 Maryland school districts are beginning the year virtually, with some planning to bring in small groups of students for face-to-face learning as early as Sept. 8. However, eight school districts, including the two biggest, Prince George’s and Montgomery counties, have indicated that they are remaining virtual for most of the first semester.

It is “simply not acceptable” that some school boards have “not even attempted to develop any safe reopening plans” that would bring students back into school buildings, Hogan said.

“It’s easier to say we are not going to bring any kids back for the rest of the year, as opposed to sitting down and doing the hard work of trying to figure out how could we get kids back for safe instruction,” Hogan said.

The authority to change reopening plans lies with each county board of education, but their decisions must be based on new statewide benchmarks, Hogan said. “We are going to put pressure on them.”

Dr. Karen Salmon, the state school superintendent, also said she is “strongly encouraging” local schools to reevaluate their mode of instruction by the end of the first quarter of the school year, which is in November.

At least 3 1/2 hours a day should be dedicated to live learning to ensure that all Maryland children are receiving an equal education, Salmon, a former Talbot school superintendent, said. The state board will decide whether that should be a new requirement for all school systems early next week.

Maryland Matters contributed to this article.

Hogan, Md. School Head Press Schools to Reopen for In-Person Learning This Fall

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With the first day of school less than a week away, top state officials are pressuring all local school systems to reopen for at least some in-person instruction this fall.

Every local school system is allowed to begin safely reopening their buildings for in-person learning, Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) announced during a news conference Thursday afternoon. COVID-19 cases are declining across the state, with a positivity rate currently at 3.3%, according to the Maryland Department of Health.

“Nearly everyone agrees that there is no substitute for in-person instruction,” Hogan said.

All 24 Maryland school districts are beginning the year virtually, with some planning to bring in small groups of students for face-to-face learning as early as Sept. 8. However, eight school districts, including the two biggest, Prince George’s and Montgomery counties, have indicated that they are remaining virtual for most of the first semester.

It is “simply not acceptable” that some school boards have “not even attempted to develop any safe reopening plans” that would bring students back into school buildings, Hogan said.

Health metrics have drastically improved since these schools made their original decision to shutter schools for half the school year, Hogan said. “I don’t really want to wait until the second quarter.”

“That’s 90 days, that’s a long time to have virtual instruction when we know that virtual instruction is very difficult for parents and very difficult for children, especially young children,” state Superintendent of Schools Karen B. Salmon said at the news conference.

Hogan asked local school systems to reconsider their plans.

“It’s easier to say we are not going to bring any kids back for the rest of the year, as opposed to sitting down and doing the hard work of trying to figure out how could we get kids back for safe instruction,” Hogan said.

The authority to change reopening plans lies with each county board of education, but their decisions must be based on new statewide benchmarks, Hogan said. “We are going to put pressure on them.”

Hogan’s fellow Republicans are already starting to apply pressure.

Earlier Thursday, Del. Michael J. Griffith (R-Harford) and Senate Minority Leader J.B. Jennings (R-Harford) penned a letter to the Harford County schools superintendent and Board of Education, urging them to consider a hybrid re-opening plan.

“With a population of 255,441 residents, we have only seen 2,344 [COVID] cases in Harford County since March. That translates into a .01% infection rate,” they wrote. “HCPS must take full advantage of this low infection rate, adopt reasonable measures to protect teachers, students, and parents, and greatly expand opportunities for in-school learning.”

Salmon also said she is “strongly encouraging” local schools to reevaluate their mode of instruction by the end of the first quarter of the school year, which is in November.

At least 3 1/2 hours a day should be dedicated to live learning to ensure that all Maryland children are receiving an equal education, Salmon said. The state board will decide whether that should be a new requirement for all school systems early next week.

Dr. Jinlene Chan, Maryland’s acting deputy secretary of public health services, announced new metrics Thursday for school systems to use to evaluate whether it is safe to reopen for at least some face-to-face instruction.

If a school jurisdiction has below 5% test positivity, or five cases per 100,000 people over a seven-day period, it should have the ability to hold in-person instruction, as long as students, teachers and staff follow physical distancing and mask-wearing guidance, Chan said.

Even schools with positivity rates above 5% should still be able to open for at least some in-person learning in a hybrid model, she continued.

The decision is not a political issue, Hogan said, but very much the opposite. He noted that “national Democratic leaders” such as Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy similarly encouraged all schools in their states to reopen for in-person instruction in the upcoming school year.

Teachers expressed dissatisfaction with the newly announced guidelines.

“Today, [the governor and superintendent] chose to ambush and second guess the hard decisions that local boards of education, parents, and educators have made to keep students and schools safe. In the continued absence of adequate state and federal funds to help schools open safely — to include measures such as rapid testing, certified ventilation systems, and needed PPE — this is a recipe for chaos, confusion, distrust, and deepening the inequities that too many of our students face,” Cheryl Bost, the president of the Maryland State Education Association, said in a statement after the news conference.

Montgomery County Public Schools, which starts virtually on Monday, quickly responded to the new state guidelines, with officials saying they were “deeply disappointed by the last-minute announcement of this critical information for school systems.”

Prince George schools also start virtually on Monday and are planning to stay virtual until January.

“While I respect Governor Hogan’s desire to move back to in-person learning as soon as possible, we cannot responsibly do so at this time, especially since his reopening announcement today occurs just four days before the first day of school,” Prince George’s County Council Member Mel Franklin (D) said in a statement.

“Our school system has spent months planning this fall’s virtual session. It would be irresponsible to haphazardly discard those plans and throw our school semester into disarray.”

Earlier this month, Sen. Paul G. Pinsky (D-Prince George’s) and Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) held a public roundtable discussion with three school superintendents and agreed that there needed to be clear, uniform statewide metrics for each school district to follow as they work on their reopening plans — ideally made by Chan and Salmon.

Yet these state lawmakers still do not think the newly-unveiled benchmarks are enough.

“MD gov just offered leadership through lip-service to school reopening, offering: minimal metric guidelines — which have already been met — and no guidance for when student/staff Covid cases breakout. Also, no guarantee of PPE equipment to schools,” Pinsky wrote on Twitter soon after the news conference.

Nor do the new guidelines include transmission rate thresholds or contact tracing, he said.

“We’d likely have more local school district consistency on reopening if the State had provided *any* guidance whatsoever prior to TEN DAYS before the planned start of SY 2020-21,” Ferguson tweeted.

Del. Brooke E. Lierman (D-Baltimore City) said she was also disappointed with the governor’s announcement.

“To be clear, this was a no-news press conference. Gov. says that schools can now reopen: that was already a local decision He announced MSDE has created metrics for schools to use — the day AFTER @BaltCitySchools reopened for teachers,” she tweeted.

“He should be embarrassed.”

By Elizabeth Shwe

Much to Consider, Much At Stake in Who Makes School Closing Decisions and How

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After months of deferring to local health officials for reopening decisions, Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) issued an emergency order Monday, overturning Montgomery County’s order prohibiting private and religious schools from holding classes on-site, in-person.

Reactions were strong and divided.

Some say Hogan seems to be contradicting himself.

“On the one hand, Hogan gave authority to local officials, but not any leadership. But then he doesn’t accept a situation that he does not like,” said Sen. Paul Pinsky (D-Prince George‘s). “He is cherry picking what group should get what.”

Sen. Paul G. Pinsky (D-Prince George’s). Photo by Danielle E. Gaines/Maryland Matters

At a press conference last week, Hogan said that it is the local governments’ job to enforce public health orders. “What the county leaders wanted was to make their own decisions,” Hogan said. “They don’t have to follow our plans when deciding when to close, they can do what they want.”

All counties must follow state law, but they can decide to be more restrictive than the state law, Hogan said. “That’s what the state constitution allows for, that’s what the federal plan calls for, what the state plans call for,” Hogan said. “They have those powers.”

But when Hogan issued his executive order Monday, in a statement, he called Montgomery County’s decision to shutter all schools “overly broad and inconsistent with the powers intended to be delegated to the county health officer.”

Public systems and private schools across the state are in the process of determining what instructional model they will adopt this fall. While Montgomery and other larger counties have indicated they will hold online classes, Hogan predicted last week that smaller systems will opt for on-site instruction.

While Montgomery County’s public schools have announced plans to hold virtual classes at least until January, the county’s order on private schools was to last only until Oct. 1, “to give people time to figure out appropriate plans and to give us time to get the numbers [the infection rate] down,” Elrich told Maryland Matters.

Montgomery County health officer Dr. Travis Gayles noted that school systems in Indiana, Texas, Mississippi and elsewhere were forced to close soon after reopening because students, teachers and/or staff tested positive for COVID-19.

Even under the executive order as Hogan revised it Monday, local health officials can still close individual schools if they are considered unsafe.

In times of emergency such as COVID-19, the governor has absolute authority to issue emergency orders, which takes precedence over any county order, said former Maryland attorney general Douglas F. Gansler (D).

Still, it is unclear where the line is on how much authority local health officials have, said Maryland Association of Counties’ executive director Michael Sanderson.

Sanderson said it is also ambiguous for related organizations, such as daycare and camp, that can be shut down at the county level. Some of these facilities might also want the same blank slate that the governor has given to private schools, he said.

Del. Eric G. Luedtke (D-Montgomery) called the governor’s actions hypocritical.

“To tell local governments to take responsibility and then take away their power to do their job — that’s frustrating,” Luedtke said.

Del. Trent Kittleman (R-Howard). Photo by Danielle E. Gaines/Maryland Matters

But Del. Trent M. Kittleman (R-Carroll & Howard) said she’s concerned that so much power had been delegated to one top health official in each county.

“It doesn’t sound very democratic,” Kittleman said. “For one person to have that much power and to make that decision for private schools is simply wrong.”

Luedtke said people should trust public health officials more than politicians during this pandemic.

Through his executive order, Hogan is suggesting that “public health decisions should not be made by a public health expert,” Luedtke said.

Luedtke and Pinsky expressed doubt that Hogan’s emergency order was scientifically driven, but rather politically driven to secure himself in the Republican party. After Friday’s announcement that Montgomery County banned in-person learning at private schools, the Republican caucus penned a letter, urging the governor to act.

“There is not a different science for private schools and public schools,” Pinsky said.

Kittleman did not view Hogan’s emergency order as a political decision, but instead, consistent with his general perspective that people should have a choice.

It is enough for the state to lay out the data of COVID-19 transmission rates and deaths and offer no more than guidance to local counties, she said. After parents review the data and the state’s suggestions, they should be able to decide for themselves whether they want to keep their children out of school or not, Kittleman said.

However, Pinsky criticized the state’s lack of specific “reopening metrics” for each county.

“If there are no metrics set as to what are the right conditions to reopen schools and they open prematurely, it is going to endanger the whole population,” Pinsky said.

Although keeping children at home may lower COVID-19 transmission rates, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines have also highlighted the negative impacts of extended school closure on children, especially on social and emotional development.

It is important to understand that there are downsides to both keeping children at home and bringing children back into school buildings, Kittleman said.

“The impact [of school closures] on children is more important to me than even if Hogan’s emergency order was somewhat inconsistent with his previous orders,” Kittleman said.

Gansler noted the ambiguity involved. “In some sense, there is some politics underscoring Hogan’s decision, but also actual health concerns,” he said. “This isn’t one of those things where there is a right or wrong answer.”

Independent schools have spent the summer figuring out how to balance academics and well-being of their students, so having the rug pulled out from under them on Friday is also something to consider, Gansler said.

As first reported by the Bethesda Beat, six families in Montgomery County private schools filed a federal lawsuit against Gayles on Monday, outlining the benefits of attending schools in-person and safety measures that the schools planned.

When lawmakers wrote the provisions of law under emergency declarations, they were mostly considering natural disasters, which typically last for just a few days, Sanderson said. “I am not sure all those laws hold up perfectly in the current circumstance, where we have been in a state of emergency for months.”

“It’s breathtaking how broad the emergency declaration powers are and what comes with it,” Sanderson said.

This executive order in response to a county order is a very rare situation in recent history because we haven’t had an emergency of this magnitude, Gansler said. “It is very unusual on many levels.”

By Elizabeth Shwe

Hogan Strips Counties of Power to Issue Blanket Restrictions on In-Person Instruction

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Amid pushback against a Montgomery County order that impacted the school President Trump’s son attends, Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) moved on Monday to prohibit counties from issuing “blanket” restrictions on in-person instruction.

The two-word revision to the emergency order Hogan issued in early April follows Montgomery County’s decision to ban classroom instruction at private schools until Oct. 1. That decision, made on Friday, meant that Barron Trump would be unable to attend classes at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Potomac.

The decision generated national headlines and was immediately denounced by General Assembly Republicans and Hogan, who reacted on Twitter. The president did not address the matter directly, but at 8:03 a.m. Monday he tweeted “Cases up because of BIG Testing! Much of our Country is doing very well. Open the Schools!”

Hogan’s revision to his April 5 executive order added “(except schools)” to a section granting the counties and Baltimore city the power to impose tighter restrictions on business activity and social interaction than the state’s.

His revised order was issued at 12:45 p.m., moments after Montgomery County Executive Marc B. Elrich (D) and Health Officer Dr. Travis Gayles began an online interview with reporters.

“Private and parochial schools deserve the same opportunity and flexibility to make reopening decisions based on public health guidelines,” Hogan said in his statement. “The blanket closure mandate imposed by Montgomery County was overly broad and inconsistent with the powers intended to be delegated to the county health officer.”

Local health officials would retain the power to shut down individual schools for not following public health guidelines.

Montgomery County Executive Marc B. Elrich (D). Photo by Bruce DePuyt/Maryland Matters

Elrich and Gayles vigorously defended their decision to bar private schools from holding in-person classes at this stage of the coronavirus crisis.

“We’re operating in a pandemic situation,” Gayles said. “We continue to see increases in cases across the country, across the state and across the region, suggesting that we do not have control over the virus to date.”

A former public school teacher, Elrich suggested that Hogan — a potential 2024 presidential candidate — “may be under a different set of political pressures.”

“These kids deserve to be safe. The teachers deserve to be safe. And the staff deserves to be safe,” Elrich said.

In a follow-up interview, Elrich said he’s “really disappointed with the governor.”

“His change talks about plans but it doesn’t talk about conditions,” the executive said. “He has done the thing that really bothers me — you can have the best plan in the world for conditions that don’t exist. And since he started opening up the state, our numbers have traveled in the opposite direction. And this is just one more decision that I don’t think is based on any scientific basis and could cause us more problems, not less problems.”

“That really bothers me,” he added. “There’s nothing in there that talks about caseload and risk in the context of the decision he’s making. Nothing.”

Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City), also a former school teacher, criticized Hogan’s executive order on Twitter.

Ferguson

Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City). Photo by Danielle E. Gaines/Maryland Matters

“One might think there’s been sufficient evidence that science should trump politics during a pandemic, apparently not,” he said. “Clarity and certainty are essential for Marylanders. Arbitrary, discretionary second-guessing will only worsen this crisis.”

What was unclear in the immediate aftermath of Hogan’s revised executive order is whether Elrich could issue his own executive order prohibiting private schools from holding live classes — and if he has that authority, would he choose to use it, given the potential impact on the president’s son and the many influential people whose children attend elite schools in the county.

Public systems and private schools across the state are in the process of determining what instructional model they will adopt this fall. While Montgomery and other larger counties have indicated they will hold online classes, Hogan predicted last week that smaller systems will opt for on-site instruction.

“As long as schools develop safe and detailed plans that follow CDC and state guidelines, they should be empowered to do what’s best for their community,” the governor said in his news release.

While Montgomery County’s public schools have announced plans to hold virtual classes at least until January, the county’s order on private schools was to last only until Oct. 1, “to give people time to figure out appropriate plans and to give us time to get the numbers [the infection rate] down,” Elrich told Maryland Matters.

Gayles noted that school systems in Indiana, Texas, Mississippi and elsewhere were forced to close soon after reopening because students, teachers and/or staff tested positive for COVID-19.

Every day an average of 80 additional people become infected, Gayles said; 16% of the new cases involved individuals under the age of 20.

Gayles said the county’s order was prompted by reports that some private schools were thinking about starting classes — news that led to a town hall meeting.

“From that conversation it was very clear that there were significant gaps in terms of understanding COVID, understanding the principles of transmission, understanding very clearly the types of things that should be implemented to keep students safe, and the types of environment and the types of best practices that have been recommended as transmission-mitigation strategies,” he added.

Elrich and Gayles said the county’s daily infection rate dropped to 40-50 cases a day prior to the state’s move to Phase 2 of its reopening plan and Ocean City’s easing of restrictions on visitors. Since then, they said, the county’s “progress” against the virus had slipped.

Gayles noted that Montgomery County’s prestigious private schools draw from across the Washington, D.C. region and around Maryland. “In these jurisdictions, we’re seeing increases in cases, which again confirms that we are not seeing lower community transmission and we have not put a firm hold on the impact of the virus,” he said.

Within hours of Friday’s announcement that Montgomery County banned in-person classes at private schools, Republicans in the House of Delegates called on Hogan to take action.

“The Maryland Board of Education has said schools can open to in-person instruction if they comply with CDC guidelines and the guardrails established by the state,” said Minority Leader Nicholaus R. Kipke (R-Anne Arundel). “Every public school administration in the state has been given the opportunity to make a decision on reopening, the same opportunity should be afforded to private and religious schools.”

”This is a blatant abuse of power by an unelected bureaucrat,” House Minority Whip Kathy Szeliga (R-Baltimore and Harford counties) said, apparently referring to Dr. Gayles.

“To threaten imprisonment for the act of reopening a religious schools is draconian and flies in the face of the religious freedoms this state was founded on,” Szeliga added.

But Gayles said the numbers don’t support reopening schools of any kind.

“Reopening is built upon the premise of having lower community transmission and lower daily case loads,” Gayles said. “That is what should be driving the decision.”

On Twitter, Maryland Comptroller Peter V.R. Franchot (D) stood with Elrich and Gayles against Hogan’s move.

“I disagree with Gov. Hogan’s decision here. If counties can decide when our public schools can re-open for on-site instruction, then why aren’t they empowered to follow the science and exercise basic common sense on behalf of all students & teachers?” Franchot tweeted.

“The top priority must be preserving public health — without which there will not be an economic recovery or a functioning education system. This is particularly true now that we can see that the COVID-19 disease is surging throughout the country at a truly alarming rate,” Franchot added.

But the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington was “grateful” to learn about the order, it said in a statement Monday afternoon, WTOP News reported. “We will continue to work with our educators and communities to ensure the safe re-opening of the schools of the Archdiocese of Washington and continue to place the health and well-being of our children at the forefront of our efforts.”

By Bruce DePuyt

Talbot Schools to Start Year with Virtual Instruction, Phase in Classroom Learning

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Talbot’s public schools will start the school year Sept. 8 with virtual learning for all students with in-person instruction phased in throughout the fall semester depending on COVID-19 trends.

The Talbot County Board of Education approved the phase-in model for the 2020-21 school year during a special July 30 meeting.

The board also voted to make Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2020, the start date for students.

Kelly Griffith, superintendent, Talbot County Public Schools

“After preparing our buildings with safety precautions and in consultation with the Talbot County Health Officer, I am recommending we begin the school year with virtual instruction and learning the first week of school for all students,” Kelly L. Griffith, Talbot’s school superintendent said in a statement. “Starting the second week of school we will begin following a phase-in model to bring more and more students back into the building quickly and safely.”

The plan includes five phases, and transitions of any of these phases will be pending a daily evaluation of health statistics with Dr. Fredia Wadley, the county’s health officer.

The phases are:

• Phase 1/Red Model: All students will participate in virtual instruction four days per week. Talbot County Public Schools will provide a schedule for each level, lessons will be synchronous and traditional grading and attendance practices will be in place. Teachers will provide asynchronous instruction one day per week. This will begin on the first day of school.

• Phase 2/Orange Model: Priority special population groups will be offered face-to-face instruction some days per week with virtual instruction on other days. This will begin on Sept. 14 if surveys indicate sufficient participation.

• Phase 3/Hybrid Yellow Model: Prekindergarten, kindergarten, Grade 6, and Grade 9 students will be offered face-to-face instruction two days per week on the AA/BB plan. Virtual learning will take place on off-site school days. This provides time for various groups new to a school setting to get acclimated to the learning environment. This would begin on Oct. 5, which is the fifth week of school.

• Phase 4/Hybrid Yellow Model: All students in prekindergarten through Grade 12 will be offered face-to-face instruction two days per week on the AA/BB plan. Virtual learning will take place on off-site school days. This will start Nov. 9, the ninth week of school and the beginning of second quarter.

• Phase 5/Green Model: All students in prekindergarten through Grade 12 return to face-to-face instruction five days per week. This transition will only occur when authorized by the governor and the Maryland State Department of Education.

“So much changed in our world this past March,” Griffith said in a letter to parents. “What did not change was the way TCPS staff handled adversity while still doing what is right for children, and the unwavering commitment of the community to assist us in coming back this fall stronger.

“I commend everyone for working with us in planning for recovery, connecting households, and feeding our children throughout the summer,” she wrote. “This fall will definitely be different for both students and staff. I would like to thank all families for your support and vote of confidence in working the plan!”

The next steps as presented to the board are as follows:

• Continue to revise the recovery plan to include a more robust plan for starting the school year.

• Survey parents and staff of priority special populations in order to be able to transition small groups.

• Continue to increase connectivity in homes.

• Continue to monitor stage development by the governor and be ready to respond quickly.

• Continue development of blended virtual program as an alternative for second semester.

The final plan will be presented to the school board at its Aug. 12 meeting and will be posted as required by MSDE on or before Aug. 14.

What Might Schools Look Like Next Fall?

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Protective films around bus drivers, temperature checks at schoolhouse doors, playgrounds marked with social distancing markers.

Those are just a few examples of what might become the “new normal” at Maryland public schools, if they’re reopened next fall.

Maryland State Superintendent of Schools Karen B. Salmon announced Wednesday that schools would remain shuttered for the rest of this school year. At the same time, she announced that the State Department of Education has published “Maryland Together: Maryland’s Recovery Plan for Education,” which included the recommendations above — and much more.

Karen Salmon, Maryland state school superintendent

With Maryland’s announcement, schools in 48 states will remain closed for the rest of this academic year. Distance learning in Maryland will continue through the end of the fourth marking period, Salmon said.

Come next fall, “schedules for instruction, meals and transportation may all require modifications,” Salmon said at a State House press conference. “Any return of students and staff to the classroom depends on the circumstances in each school system and local school systems will have the flexibility to adapt the model to best serve their needs.”

The recovery plan released on Wednesday includes suggestions, but not requirements, for school districts to consider. Day-to-day operations in all schools are likely to change to follow public health guidance.

Other precautions that may be necessary include reconfigured classrooms with desks six feet apart, or physically distanced instruction in gymnasiums, auditoriums or out on the lawn.

Suggestions in the report for modifying school schedules to reduce the number of students physically present in schools include:

• A one-day rotation, in which a quarter of students return to school buildings one day a week.

• A two-day rotation in which all students receive two days of at-school instruction each week.

• A and B weeks, where half of all students go to the school building for four days in a row, and learn from home the following week.

Because research shows that younger students have more difficulty processing lessons during online learning, school systems may also consider bringing younger students back on to campuses earlier than older students.

Based on research that shows a more significant “summer slide,” or learning loss, in math, school systems might consider prioritizing in-person instruction for that subject next fall over, say, English language arts, an area where more parents may be prepared to help with at-home lessons.

Schools might also consider “looping” teachers ― or keeping them with the same set of students ― next school year, which would take advantage of teachers’ familiarity with students and families during an uncertain time. Access to school counselors and school-based health clinics should be beefed up, and schools should begin planning to help staff members identify childhood reactions to stress and trauma, or to identify abuse or neglect.

Students learning English or enrolled in special education programs should be prioritized for in-person small-group instruction with student-teacher ratios of 10 or less.

The report says that fall diagnostic assessments for elementary and middle school students will be given at the start of next school year as planned, with results going to teachers within two days to help guide instruction.

If remote learning must continue, school systems should consider implementing low-cost methods of online instruction that can be accessed on the widest variety of technological platforms, including mobile phones. School systems may need to consider increasing information technology staff to help bolster distance-learning programs.

School systems should also consider ways to extend the quality and coverage of internet access in their counties; about 30% of families in Maryland do not have a reliable internet connection for distance learning, according to the report.

The report suggests additional changes and safeguards for students in career and technical education programs, including making sure students have access to work-based learning hours that follow public health guidelines, disinfecting student labs and creating a compressed curriculum that will allow students to graduate on time with their expected certifications.

Schools will have to change lunch and food service policies to allow for physical distancing, increased sanitation and other issues, including how to distribute meals with altered school day schedules. Since schools in the state were closed in mid-March, school systems have served more than 8 million meals to children in need, Salmon said Wednesday.

The report suggests that each school district should create a crisis team to implement local reopening plans and communicate with the public.

A separate “Child Care Recovery Plan” is in the works. About half of the child care programs in the state have been closed since late March, with about 3,700 providers remaining open to serve a small population of children of essential workers. A roll-out of the state-funded Essential Personnel Child Care Program was rocky, with providers going weeks without payment. But Salmon said Wednesday that the state has made more than $34 million in payments over the past two weeks, with all invoices to providers up to date.

The recovery plan for public schools will be updated as information changes, Salmon said Wednesday.

Cheryl Bost, president of the Maryland State Education Association and a Baltimore County elementary school teacher, said Wednesday that closing schools for the year was the right decision for health and safety, but called it a sad day.

“Educators miss our students. We wish we could see them, talk with them, laugh with them, and teach them in person. We wish we could say goodbye to them before the school year ends,” Bost said in a statement. “Instead, educators, families, and students will continue to do our best during this period of crisis distance learning, while knowing that we have a great deal of work to do now and moving forward. We must address the inequities within our community—whether of technology access for educators and students, food security, trauma care, or otherwise—that have been magnified by this crisis. We look forward to the day that we can return to our schools and the everyday joys, challenges, and work of educating our students.”

By Danielle E. Gaines