MD Schools Should Reopen, Governor Says
MARYLAND — Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said there is consensus among health experts and leaders at the federal level that schools should be reopening.
“There is no public health reason for school boards to be keeping students out of schools," Hogan said at a news conference Thursday. "None.”
Schools in Maryland were closed in March by order of the state superintendent as the coronavirus outbreak began. Over the summer, the Maryland State Department of Education gave guidance for in-person instruction, but several districts have not reopened.
“Every single Maryland student must have at least the opportunity to return to attending school in some form or fashion,” Hogan said. “Our children simply cannot afford any more endless roadblocks, or any more moving of the goalposts."
President Joe Biden made reopening schools one of his top priorities for his first 100 days in office, Hogan said.
"The toll of keeping students out of school far exceeds any potential risk of having students in school where they belong," Hogan said. "The time has come to get all of our kids back in the classroom, and to open the schools."
No later than March 1, the governor said school systems are strongly encouraged to allow students to participate in hybrid learning if they so choose.
By law, the decision to reopen schools rests with the school boards, Hogan said.
"I cannot order them to open schools, but I want to make it perfectly clear: I will do everything I possibly can" to get children back in classrooms, Hogan said. He urged leaders in the state to join him in making this an "immediate priority."
Local school systems are to plan immediately for a return to in-person instruction by March 1, State Superintendent of Schools Karen Salmon said.
She and the governor sent a letter to the Maryland State Education Association asking for support advocating "for a safe but expeditious return to in-person instruction" and stating "roadblocks to resuming in-person instruction must cease."
The Maryland State Department of Education and Maryland Department of Health released new guidance on reopening that included two educational design options:
Closed schools have had a "severe" impact on students, Salmon said.
Cumulative learning loss by the end of this year could be "5 to 9 months," and may be even more disproportionate for students of color and those in low-income situations, according to Salmon.
Salmon released $781 million in funding for school systems in mid-January toward reopening classrooms, assessing learning loss, targeted tutoring and other initiatives to help ameliorate the pandemic's effects.
"There is a not a demonstrated public health reason to keep schools closed," Salmon said. "We have seen child care facilities and school systems that have chosen to reopen" do so without community spread. In cases where there had been outbreaks, those had originated from the greater community, not within the schools, she said.
The World Health Organization released a report in October showing that, based on preliminary data, schools and children were unlikely to be the main drivers of COVID-19 transmission as long as community transmission of the virus was low and measures such as social distancing are applied.
Of those who contracted the virus in Maryland, officials said contact tracing data indicated 4.3 percent of people younger than 19 years old and 1 percent of those 20 and up said they attended, visited or worked in a school for grades pre-K through 12th grade.
Deputy Health Secretary Jinlene Chan said "distancing, masking" and "quarantine, contact tracing" and outbreak protocols are among the tools that can be used for returning students to school safely during the pandemic. She and Salmon said vaccinations should not be a requisite for reopening.
"The fears of a decline" in achievement and the impact "for years to come" as children develop are a sentiment that is "palpable," said Chan, who is a parent, adding: "It is time" for children to return to the classroom.
Watch the news conference with Hogan, Salmon and Chan.
Related:
Baltimore City Public School Staff Can Get Vaccines From Johns Hopkins
Baltimore City Teachers Union Rallies Against Reopening Schools
This article originally appeared on the Baltimore Patch
