MCPS: "While it has not yet been announced by the state, it is becoming more apparent to us all that students and staff will not be returning to school buildings on March 30."

By Superintendent Jack R. Smith

It’s Sunday, March 22, and we are a little more than a week into this new world we are in. With all but a few states having closed all schools, we are experiencing a cataclysmic shift in how schools, communities and our society function. And the fact is, we do not know what’s going to happen or how it’s going to happen. We do not know how this will unfold. What we do know is that we are all in this together and we are better together.

It’s been an extremely rough week for every member of the school community—parents, families and staff— many of whom are also parents. It’s been especially difficult for students. Here’s how Steve Snyder, editor ofThe 74, an education-focused website, describes what’s happening:

“Students are dislocated. Educators are scrambling to conceive the classroom as a virtual daily gathering. Parents have been deputized overnight as homeschoolers. Advocates are surveying this foreign landscape and raising urgent concerns surrounding issues of equity, inclusion, curriculum, safety, standards and … well … everything else that shapes the functioning of a school community.”

{Read his article}

While it has not yet been announced by the state, it is becoming more apparent to us all that students and staff will not be returning to school buildings on March 30. Given that, what will the remainder of the school year look like? This is yet another question that will need an answer.

So, let’s focus on what we do know now. On March 30, we will launch the first phase of a distance learning system so that students can begin to have structured school experiences. A system that will provide multiple ways to access learning for a variety of students. Such a system must include learning that allows for that much needed human connection between staff and students, albeit through different means than what we're used to. A system that will bring some degree of normalcy to the lives of our 166,000 prekindergarten-Grade 12 students.

Even before Dr. Karen Salmon, the state superintendent of schools, declared a two-week emergency closure just over a week ago, we were busy working to chart the course for the largest school system in Maryland. We created meal distribution systems; we have more than 55,000 students who receive multiple free meals on regular school days. Cleaning and sanitizing regiments were put in place for our 208 schools and about 30 other MCPS sites, as well as more than 1,500 buses. We have worked closely with our local and state governments  on how we can be helpful around questions of childcare for medical and emergency personnel and the provision of the ongoing healthcare needs of students.

Simultaneously, a few weeks ago we started pulling together our many learning tools and assets—we have a lot of them; they were in no way, however, organized to launch as a structured learning system the day the announcement was made to close schools for two weeks...

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/publicinfo/community/school-year-2019-2020/allin-this-together-20200322.html