montgomery county

Rep. Harris Seeks Federal Probe of Montgomery Co. Decision Delaying Private Schools Opening

August 7, 2020 by Maryland Matters Leave a Comment

Maryland’s lone Republican member of Congress is calling for the federal government to investigate Montgomery County’s decision to delay in-person learning at private and parochial schools.

In a letter sent Thursday to Dr. Robert R. Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Rep. Andrew P. Harris (R) blasted the county’s decision, announced late last Friday, to prevent private schools from opening their buildings to students in the first weeks of the academic year.

The decision by County Executive Marc B. Elrich (D) and his health director, Dr. Travis Gayles, prompted swift and significant outcry. Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) this week amended an emergency order in order to prevent local governments from forcing private and parochial schools to stay shuttered.

Montgomery County Public Schools, like many other school districts in the state, is staying with remote learning until at least January due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Gayles issued an additional order Wednesday seeking to counter Hogan’s edict.

Harris suggested that Montgomery County’s move is part of “a long-fought campaign against private primary and secondary education.”

The congressman’s 1st congressional district takes in the Eastern Shore and northern parts of Harford and Baltimore counties, and comes nowhere close to Montgomery County.

In his letter to Redfield, Harris — an anesthesiologist — argues that Montgomery County’s COVID-19 positivity and hospital rates remain relatively low.

“It is not appropriate for a county health officer to preemptively impose a blanket mandate that no school can safely open, regardless of circumstance,” Harris wrote to Redfield. “…With these current metrics as a backdrop, I fear that Montgomery County, through Dr. Gayles’ repeated attempts to preemptively foreclose the prospect of any schools reopening (county public schools having already decided not to reopen), is using public health as a stalking horse to further a long-fought campaign against private primary and secondary education.”

Harris argued that a federal investigation of Montgomery County’s actions would be appropriate “[g]iven the large sum of federal funds that flow into county health departments, particularly during the present COVID-19 pandemic.”

“I respectfully request that CDC or the appropriate
authority within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) investigate the particular situation within Montgomery County, to ensure that all decisions are being made exclusively with our children’s best interest and public health in mind,” Harris wrote. “Anything less would be an abuse of their authority, a dereliction of duty, and a misuse of our federal public health funds.”

Harris’ letter came as Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr.’s (R) administration reiterated its authority over county officials on Thursday, stating that any “blanket” restrictions on in-person learning in private and religious schools goes against state policy.

“At this time, it is the health policy of the State of Maryland that non-public schools not be closed in a blanket manner,” Maryland Health Secretary Robert R. Neall wrote in a memo sent to all local health officers.

Citing Hogan’s executive order, Neall echoed that every school, public or private, should have the power to decide their own reopening plans, as long as they align with CDC recommendations and the Maryland State Department of Education’s recovery plan.

“Those determinations should be made in close consultation with the affected schools and local health departments with Maryland Department of Health guidance,” he wrote.

The memo came in response to Gayles’ order, prohibiting nonpublic schools in Montgomery County to reopen in-person through at least Oct. 1.

Over the last week, the county and the state have been disputing over who has the authority to decide when and how private schools should reopen.

In his letter to the CDC, Harris expressed concern about the detrimental behavioral effects on children if they continue to stay at home during the next school year.

“The continued rise in suicide and opioids death, coupled with the recognized mental health consequences of keeping children isolated, are of great concern to myself, Maryland’s First Congressional District, and the country at large,” he wrote.

Harris said the appropriate role of a local health officer should “to inspect the school to ensure proper guidelines are in place and being followed, not to override decisions made by a school or school system in compliance with the best available science and guidance.”

Harris wasn’t the only member of Maryland’s congressional delegation to weigh in on the controversy.

When asked Thursday what he thinks about the clash between Montgomery County and the state, U.S. Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (D) wrote in an email, “We all want schools to reopen but it has to be done safely.”

By Elizabeth Shwe

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

August 5, 2020 by Maryland Matters Leave a Comment

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

August 4, 2020 by Maryland Matters Leave a Comment

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.

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.

“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.

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

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