Amid rising COVID-19 infection rates and teacher anxiety, the CEO of Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) said schools will be returning to all-virtual learning. Some parents are torn on the move, and Maryland’s governor strongly disagrees.
Students will go to school virtually from Dec. 20 through Jan. 14. Winter break will run from Dec. 24-31.
Dr. Monica Goldson, CEO of PGCPS, cited 155 cases reported in one day last week in a statement about her decision.
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Gov. Larry Hogan said that while local school jurisdictions hold the power to make such choices, it's not one he agrees with.
“It’s a big deal and a terrible mistake and something that we’re very opposed to,” Hogan said on the Fox News network Sunday. “We all want to keep our kids safe but we’ve got protocols in place. There’s a hundred cases in Prince George’s County out of 131,000 students.”
Among students who spoke to News4, those hundred cases seemed enough to warrant change.
“I honestly disagree with all of us kids having to go back into the schools because some of us aren’t even getting vaccinated,” one boy said.
Some parents offered different perspectives. One mother said the decision “makes sense,” due to the increase in cases.
“I think the transition to virtual for all of the kids is very easy because we were already there last year,” she said.
Hogan said he opposes distance learning in part because of last year's difficulties. There’s also the added concern because fewer parents are working from home now.
“I think that they should kind of go back to where they were, where like half of the students were coming on a couple of days. I think hybrid is a happy medium,” another mother said. “We have to go to work because there’s no relief for parents, especially single parents like myself [so], what do we do?”
