schools

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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