Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) are planning to reopen in April using a hybrid combination of in-person and continued virtual learning, PGCPS CEO Monica Goldson announced on February 17. The plan to is have two days of in-person and three days of virtual learning, as well as students who will have all virtual learning.
Goldson held a virtual press conference on February 17 and a virtual parent town hall the following day to lay out the plan for the coming months.
A survey was sent to parents, to be completed by February 28, to assess the learning preference for the remainder of the year. Students are not required to return in person, but may opt into the hybrid format.
For the rest of the spring the timeline is:
On March 3, school-based staff may begin teaching virtually from their school classrooms and all central office staff must return to their assigned work locations.
On March 17, all school-based staff must return to schools to teach virtually from their classrooms, in order to prepare for the return of students in April.
Spring break will occur from March 29 through April 5.
April 8 is the start date for Phase One, which begins the hybrid plan for students in pre-K through grade six, grade 12 and special education (pre-K through grade 12).
On April 15, Phase Two begins with hybrid learning for grades 7 through 11.
June 15 will be the last day for students and June 16 the last day for teachers.
Goldson also laid out the timeline for Spring athletics. On March 10, coaches will begin in-person after-school conditioning and workouts outdoors. On April 6, the sports season practices begin.
Goldson is committed to ensuring a safe and productive environment for all students and staff. She hoped that the hybrid approach will further meet the needs of all students, as the virtual approach has not been completely successful.
She emphasized that these have not been easy decisions, and that the school system has shown restraint in not rushing to reopen. Many factors went into the move to a hybrid model, foremost was safety and the monitoring of a decline in local transmission numbers of Covid-19. She said that “now is the time to serve the community and students and do what’s right and safe in April.”
The PGCPS website has the complete reopening plan, approved in August, available for reference.
The News Review reached out to ERHS teacher Patrick Gleason for a comment. Gleason, while acknowledging that students are desperately missing social interaction, stresses that with the current state of the virus “our reopening plan will not allow for the interaction they need.” He said he is “concerned about returning to a building with hundreds of others prematurely.” He praised the staff and the administration for their amazing and detailed approach to safety throughout the pandemic. Still, he favored continuing the virtual approach to the end of this school year as more logical from a public health standpoint, while noting that there was “too much pressure from the state for us to not open.” Gleason also recognizes the problematic challenge that the hybrid approach requires from teachers.