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Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan on Thursday encouraged the schools to move to in-person learning as he touted "improved COVID-19 health metrics across the state," emphasizing what he said are the benefits of face-to-face instruction over virtual schooling.
Hogan did not specifically order schools to reopen, as he does not have that power over local school districts, but officially gave all districts permission to open and strongly encouraged them to do so.
"As a result of our improved health metrics, every single county school system in the State of Maryland is now fully authorized to begin safely reopening,” the governor said. “Nearly everyone agrees that there is no substitute for in-person instruction. It is essential that we all work together on flexible hybrid plans to safely get some of our kids back into classrooms and into healthy and supportive learning environments."
Hogan first ordered schools in the state to shut down on March 12. The governor, who recently stepped down as the head of the National Governors Association (NGA), has been one of the most vocal voices on state responses to the coronavirus. According to a Maryland Department of Health graphic tweeted by Hogan earlier this week, every county in the state but one has a case positivity rate of under 5 percent, with most counties at about 3 percent or less.
While all public school systems in the state are opening with distance learning only, according to the Washington Post, there are some private schools in the state that are opening in-person. Hogan earlier this month clashed with local officials in Montgomery County who ordered private schools to institute all-virtual schooling. Hogan made an effort to invalidate the county order, which local officials resisted at first before eventually allowing private schools to engage in in-person instruction.
Hogan, acknowledging that county schools have already committed to starting the school year virtually, strongly encouraged them to reevaluate their plans after the first grading period of the year.
"@MdPublicSchools Superintendent Dr. Karen Salmon urges local school systems to reevaluate their modes of instruction at the end of the first quarter," Hogan said Thursday. "The state is making $10 million in grant funding available to help systems that are able to move toward in-person instruction."
Hogan's decision was not without pushback, especially from teachers' unions, which have staunchly opposed reopening schools unless specific safety measures are put in place, even to the point of threatening strikes.
"At a time when educators are focused on working hard to make the best of this year for students, the governor & superintendent are focused on throwing school communities under the bus. We need collaboration & problem-solving, not political theater," Cheryl Bost, the president of the Maryland State Education Association (MSEA), said in a statement.
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"The governor and superintendent abdicated responsibility for creating reopening standards and told districts to come up with their own plans, indicating appropriate confidence that local school systems would do what is best for students," she said. "Today, they 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."
The MSEA statement also lamented a lack of federal and state funding for schools planning to open, saying to go ahead with reopening is "a recipe for chaos, confusion, distrust & deepening the inequities that too many of our students face."
Those in favor of reopening schools, however, have argued that distance learning actually hurts minority and underprivileged students who may not have access to the same digital resources as more affluent students.
They have also questioned the efficacy of online learning, noting that it is highly difficult to get children, especially those in elementary school, to sit in front of a computer screen for hours on end.
Opponents say reopening puts teachers and their families, and vulnerable family members of children who will be returning to schools, in a compromised position.
Fox News' Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
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