schools

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

September 10, 2020 by Maryland Matters Leave a Comment

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.

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’

September 4, 2020 by Maryland Matters Leave a Comment

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

September 2, 2020 by Maryland Matters Leave a Comment

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

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

August 28, 2020 by Maryland Matters Leave a Comment

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

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

What Might Schools Look Like Next Fall?

May 8, 2020 by Maryland Matters Leave a Comment

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

Schools to Stay Closed, More Outdoor Activities Allowed

May 6, 2020 by Maryland Matters Leave a Comment

As cases of COVID-19 in Maryland hospitals and ICU units begin to plateau, Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr .(R) announced moves Wednesday that foreshadow a slow re-establishment of the norm for state residents.

Effective 7 a.m. Thursday, Marylanders can resume a broad range of outdoor activities, including golf, tennis, camping, boating and fishing. Hogan also announced the reopening of state parks, playgrounds and beaches.

Additionally, the Maryland Department of Health is giving guidance for medical professionals, including dentists, to resume elective and non-COVID-19-related procedures.

“Marylanders have made incredible sacrifices in recent weeks and because of that, thousands of lives have been saved and the numbers of infections are so much better than they would have been,” the governor said at a State House news conference Wednesday afternoon. “And while we still do need several more days of good metrics, our Coronavirus Recovery Team … has agreed that there are some additional things that we can do safely right now.”

Hogan said that in the past week, the state saw a five-day streak of downward hospitalization trends, with a slight bump Monday, and an encouraging leveling-off of patients receiving care in state ICUs.

“If these trends continue into next week, we will be ready to lift the stay-at-home order and to begin stage one of our recovery plan,” he said.

Dr. David Marcozzi, the COVID-19 incident commander for the University of Maryland Medical System, said it is imperative for Marylanders to use caution and “common sense” when participating in these activities.

“The virus is still with us,” he explained, adding that people need to maintain social distance while enjoying activities outside, practice appropriate hygiene, only gather in small groups and, if possible, wear masks.

“To continue to flatten the curve, we as Marylanders need to be consistently making the right choices for ourselves, for our friends, and our family,” Marcozzi said.

Hogan’s decision to allow people to walk on state-owned beaches comes two days after the mayor of Ocean City decided independently to open beaches there this Saturday.

The state’s policy applies to beaches operated by the Department of Natural Resources — and it’s narrower than the one adopted by Ocean City.

Under Hogan’s guidance, beaches will open Thursday for “walking, jogging, running, swimming and fishing.” The ban on groups of 10 or more remains in effect. Chairs, blankets and picnics will be prohibited.

Asked if visitors to Ocean City can sunbathe and swim, Mayor Richard W. Meehan said in a text message, “As long as people are not violating the Governor’s Stay at Home Order, they are allowed to go on the beach. We do not encourage swimming before the life guards are on duty Memorial Day Weekend.”

While a few boardwalk establishments may begin serving takeout food, most will remain shuttered until at least Memorial Day weekend. Hotels and short-term rental apartments are also off-limits until then.

“Social distancing is required,” Meehan added.

Hogan and Meehan talked at length by phone before the town decided to open its beach. During the conversation, the mayor said the governor’s decision to open beaches in coordination with Virginia and Delaware “doesn’t really work for us.”

Although he didn’t criticize Ocean City’s decision, Hogan appeared to suggest that it’s too early for beach activity to ramp up too quickly.

“We’re encouraging people to walk on the beach and walk on the boardwalks,” he said. “But crowds of people all congregating together and going about their normal way that they would go, I think we’re not quite ready for that.”

Sen. Mary Beth Carozza (R-Lower Shore) said she is “very excited” about the lifting of restrictions on outdoor activity.

“I’ve had numerous constituents across my district — whether it’s boaters or golfers or tennis players or people who just love to walk in our parks — ask when can we expect to be outside again,” she said. “So today was welcome news.”

School’s out

While the state’s parks and beaches are reopening, Maryland public schools will remain shut.

Maryland State Superintendent of Schools Karen B. Salmon announced that she is canceling in-person learning for the remainder of the school year.

“After extensive discussions with the Maryland State Board of Education, the Maryland Health Department and additional health experts advising the governor, I am convinced this is the appropriate decision in order to continue to protect the health and safety of our students, educators, staff, and all members of school communities throughout Maryland,” she said.

As it stands, Maryland public school students have not attended any lessons taught in classrooms since March 13. Salmon said that students are to continue participating in distance learning through the balance of the year.

While schools remain closed, the Department of Education continues to consider plans for their slow reopening. Salmon announced that in a combined effort between stakeholders and local superintendents, the department has drafted the Maryland Together Recovery Plan for Education, a “comprehensive plan for long-term recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.”

Salmon said that while school systems do not have to follow this plan, the calendar for reopening schools may “dovetail” with Hogan’s recovery plan.

In mid-April, Hogan rolled out the “Maryland Strong: Roadmap to Recovery” — a three-phase plan to reopen the state.

In order for state officials to safely implement the beginnings of the reentry plan, Maryland must meet four “building blocks, including increased testing, greater hospital surge capacity, expanded supply of personal protective equipment, and a “robust contact tracing operation.”

Should it be enacted, the first phase of the state’s recovery plan would allow for the reopening of some businesses and the activation of “low-risk” religious and community events.

Steps in the right direction

Late last month, Hogan announced that he had acquired over 500,000 tests from South Korea.

When combined with an expansion of lab capacity and a shipment of swabs from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the governor said Wednesday that the state has been able to augment its testing ability, including at chicken processing plants on the Eastern Shore and state nursing homes, both of which the governor said are to be universally tested.

“We expanded testing on the Eastern Shore in response to outbreaks at poultry processing plants, testing 2,300 people at Perdue Stadium in Salisbury just last weekend,” Hogan said. “In addition, we will be conducting universal testing shift by shift at both of Maryland’s processing plants to ensure that every single poultry worker is tested and we are placing a surge tent at Easton Memorial Hospital to prepare for a spike in patients from that outbreak.

“The CDC is on the ground in Salisbury to assist with contact tracing and we continue to coordinate with our partners in Delaware and Virginia in an effort to protect the Delmarva region’s poultry industry and the national food supply chain,” the governor said.

Maryland lawmakers were told on Wednesday that the state’s nursing homes aren’t able to test residents and staff as often as they would like.

During a meeting of the General Assembly’s Joint COVID-19 Response Legislative Workgroup, the head of the association that represents Maryland nursing homes called testing “a major, major problem.”

“There’s a shortage of testing,” said Joseph DeMattos Jr., the president of the Health Facilities Association of Maryland. “It’s one thing for the state to order testing. But to order testing in an environment where testing is not available is a problem.”

DeMattos said Maryland nursing homes frequently receive only a fraction of the tests they request from their local health departments.

Part of the problem, he said, is that counties have adopted their own standards for deciding who is eligible for the tests.

DeMattos urged the legislature to pressure Hogan to adopt a statewide standard, and to stagger testing of nursing home staff, so facilities aren’t swamped with a sudden wave of positive results.

“Everybody can say that testing is mandatory and everybody needs to be testing,” he said. “The reality on the ground is there are not these tests deployed at this point.”

Hogan said Wednesday afternoon that universal testing in elder care facilities will “not be done overnight,” nor is the state “just handing out tests.” Rather, he explained that the state will begin testing “the hottest ones with the biggest problems and working our way down the list.”

Regarding contact tracing, the governor announced Maryland’s recent contract with the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center, which Hogan said is poised to “quadruple” the state’s investigating ability.

Maryland is in the process of hiring workers for its contact tracing program. The governor revealed that officials received more than 900 applications for these positions from across the state.

While the state beefs-up its contact tracing capabilities, it has also exponentially increased its ability to treat those who fall victim to COVID-19.

Hogan said that the state’s number of viable hospital beds for COVID-19 patients has increased by over 8,000 units and that the supply of personal protective equipment has grown by 4.5 million KN95 masks, 600,000 N95 masks, 150,000 medical gowns, over one million face shields and 3.5 million gloves.

He said that Maryland has spent hundreds of millions of dollars building up these stockpiles — something that he said the state has never had to do in such a short time before.

“We don’t do this on a normal basis,” said the governor. “But if we didn’t find them, people were going to die.”

Hogan also acknowledged that in its pursuit of this necessary equipment, the state may have fallen victim to fraud.

Last week, he directed the Maryland Department of General Services to cancel an emergency order of personal protective equipment, including masks and ventilators, from Blue Flame Medical, ordering Attorney General Brian E. Frosh (D) to launch an investigation.

Since then, the U.S. Department of Justice has started its own investigation of Blue Flame Medical, noting that other states have had similar interactions with the company, including California.

“We were lucky to catch this one situation. Hopefully, there aren’t others,” Hogan said.

By Hannah Gaskill and Bruce DePuyt

Schools Closing for 2 Weeks as Officials Announce Extraordinary Measures to Combat Virus

March 13, 2020 by Maryland Matters Leave a Comment

State officials on Thursday announced a series of measures to mitigate the outbreak of COVID-19 in Maryland — including ordering all public schools closed for two weeks, beginning on Monday.

At a late afternoon State House news conference, Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) joined with public health experts, educational leaders, the presiding officers of the General Assembly and public safety officials, to outline the state’s latest responses to what he described as “a new phase in the outbreak of this virus.”

Hogan said he would be turning day-to-day operations of state government over to Lt. Gov. Boyd K. Rutherford (R), “so I can focus my full attention on this crisis.”

Dr. Karen B. Salmon, Maryland’s superintendent of public schools, ordered public schools to be closed for two weeks, starting on Monday. School buildings and administrative offices would go through a deep cleaning during this period, Salmon said, and she is recommending to local school districts that lost instruction time be made up during the districts’ scheduled spring break, which in most cases occurs around Easter (April 12 this year).

Salmon said the state would release details in the days ahead of how it would provide childcare to the children of emergency service workers and how it would provide meals during the shutdown to the thousands of students who rely on free or reduced-price breakfasts and lunches during the school day.

The announcement that Maryland schools would be closing came just minutes after Ohio officials announced that their schools would be closing for three weeks.

Hogan said the recommendation to close the schools was Salmon’s, but that it was endorsed by public health officials and other political leaders.

“We’d rather be at the forefront,” the governor said.

Although the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Maryland remains at a dozen as of Thursday’s news conference, the latest victim, announced late Wednesday night, is a Prince George’s County resident who was “the first case of community transmission,” Hogan said.

“The circumstances of this case indicate that we are entering a new phase of this crisis in our state, we should expect the number of cases to dramatically and rapidly rise,” he said. “Our primary focus is now turning from containment, to aggressively working to mitigate and limit the spread of the virus.”

To address the spreading outbreak, Hogan announced several measures:

• All events of more than 250 people throughout the state are canceled indefinitely;

• The National Guard has been activated, though Hogan said it was not immediately clear what their role throughout the crisis would be;

• The cruise ship terminal at the Port of Baltimore will be closed indefinitely, though two ships that are due back in the next few days will be allowed to dock;

• “Non-essential” state workers are being ordered to work from home, and Hogan said he is recommending that private sector employers do the same;

• Access to the State House and other government buildings will be severely limited;

• All expiration dates for state licenses and permits will be extended to 30 days after the declaration of emergency is lifted;

• Visits to state prisons will be banned.

“The actions that I have announced here today will be disruptive to your everyday lives,” Hogan said. “And they may sound extreme, and they may sound frightening, but they could be the difference in saving lives and helping keep people safe.”

Earlier in the day, the presiding officers of the General Assembly announced new procedures that they said would help protect lawmakers and the public from exposure to COVID-19 for the final 3 1/2 weeks of the legislative session, but it now appears likely that even more extreme measures will be enacted.

Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) said that legislative leaders would be meeting immediately after Hogan’s news conference to determine what the legislature must do to “uphold its constitutional duties but doing it in a way that is safe and is protecting public health.”

The last time a General Assembly session was cut short, lawmakers have said, was during the Civil War.

By Josh Kurtz and Hannah Gaskill

School Officials Reassure Parents; Urge Good Hygiene, Keeping Kids with Fevers Home

March 6, 2020 by John Griep Leave a Comment

State and local school officials say they are working with health officials and emergency management to monitor coronavirus and reassured families that cleaning and hygiene measures are already in place due to the cold and flu season.

As the flu season winds down amid the coronavirus scare, school officials also urge parents to keep students home from school if any illness with fever develops.

Kelly Griffith, Talbot County school superintendent

In a letter to parents, Kelly L. Griffith, Talbot County’s school superintendent, noted the school system “has many protocols in place due to the annual cold and flu season, such as preparation for additional cleaning of buildings and stressing the importance of good hygiene practices.

“We monitor student illness reports, trends and absenteeism and are in daily contact with the Talbot County Health Department,” Griffith wrote.

The superintendent said administrators “will attend any and all Emergency Management briefings, and will work with the Talbot County Health Department and other partners to review, update and implement existing emergency operations plans if needed.”

Karen Couch, Kent County’s school superintendent, in a letter to parents noted there were no coronavirus cases in Kent County and, at the time of her letter, none in Maryland.

Three cases were confirmed Thursday in Montgomery County and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency on Thursday night.

Karen Couch, Kent County school superintendent

“This is a rapidly changing situation, and one which we are closely monitoring,” Couch wrote.

“The CDC reports that people diagnosed with the 2019 Novel Coronavirus reported symptoms in as few as two days and as many as fourteen days after exposure to the virus,” she wrote. “Symptoms include fever, coughing, difficulty breathing, and pneumonia.

Within Kent’s schools, sanitation efforts have been intensified, with an increased focus on doorknobs and handles, light switches, desktops, faucets and similar surfaces using the school’s antimicrobial disinfectant, Couch wrote. Bus drivers have been given disinfecting wipes as well.

The superintendent said the school system was continuing to work closely with the county’s health and emergency services departments, the state health department and the CDC to monitor the situation.

Patricia Saelens, Caroline County school superintendent

Patty Saelens, Caroline County’s school superintendent, said school officials “have been following developments regarding the Coronavirus (COVID-19) and are working closely, as we do for all health-related issues, with proven and trustworthy sources: our local health department, the Maryland Department of Health, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“Based on the current information, health officials are recommending local communities and schools take the same steps to protect against coronavirus that we take to prevent the spread of other diseases, like colds or the flu,” Saelens wrote to parents. “We continue to encourage good hygiene practices in school, and will follow appropriate assessment and monitoring procedures for students and staff who report feeling ill.

“Finally, as important as student attendance is, please keep your child at home if symptoms of any illness with fever develop,” she wrote. “Thank you for entrusting the care of your child to us. We take our responsibility very seriously, and assure you that we will continue to work with health care officials to stay informed on this issue.”

Griffith also shared a message from Dr. Karen B. Salmon, the state school superintendent.

Salmon wrote:

“Multiple state agencies are collaborating on and are committed to the health and safety of students and staff in the school setting. We are working collaboratively with the Governor’s Office, the Maryland Department of Health (MDH), the Maryland Emergency Management Agency (MEMA), and all other relevant State agencies on the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19).

The MSDE will remain vigilant in providing all information regarding the virus as it pertains to the health and safety of students and staff in our schools.”

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