Thousands of students in the WTOP listening area will return to classrooms Monday morning, marking a small but significant step toward normalcy almost exactly a year since the region saw its first coronavirus outbreak.
Students whose parents opted for a hybrid learning model in five Washington and Baltimore area school districts are coming back to buildings starting in phases for at least a few days per week.
Four of the five districts are in Maryland, where Gov. Larry Hogan had been pushing to bring students back to school buildings by March 1. Until Monday, only a tenth of the state’s K-12 public schools were operating at least partly in person the lowest in the nation according to an online tracker from Burbio.
Small groups back in buildings on Monday; more to follow in coming weeks
March 1, 2021 | 3:37 pm
March 1, 2021
Students board a school bus at Gaithersburg High School after the first day of in-person classes in just shy of one year.
Caitlynn Peetz
For weeks, Rory Stephens had one day on her mind: March 1.
Stephens, 15, is autistic and mostly nonverbal, but often said the date to her parents. She knew it would be her first day back in school since March 2020, and she was excited.
Early Monday morning, Rory and her mother, Nora Fitzpatrick, stopped at the Krispy Kreme drive-through, then headed to Winston Churchill High School for the first time.
MCPS to train middle school teachers on de-escalating situations involving student conflicts
By Ayesha Khan
Teacher de-escalation training in Montgomery County
Can middle school teachers in Montgomery County handle certain conflicts that come up between students? The school system is getting ready to train hundreds of teachers on how they can de-escalate situations without needing help from police.
GAITHERSBURG, Md. FOX 5 DC) - Hundreds of middle school teachers in Montgomery County will soon be getting trained on how to help de-escalate certain in-school situations and conflict that might arise between students.
The method will provide training on restorative justice to avoid having police intervene.
FOX 5 cameras tour a Montgomery County middle school a week before students are set to return
Montgomery County Schools’ readiness to return
For the first time since July, news cameras got to tour a Montgomery County public school with safety measures implemented ahead of the March 1 return for some students.
ROCKVILLE, Md. (FOX 5 DC) - For the first time since July, news cameras got to tour a Montgomery County public school ahead of the start to phased in-person instruction come March 1, which is in less than a week away.
MCPS leaders showed some of the social distancing measures, signage and technology implemented at William H. Farquhar Middle School in Olney on Tuesday. Officials also shared the school system has spent over $15 million to prepare the county’s over 200 schools for in-person instruction in the pandemic.
Teachers and community members in Maryland’s Montgomery County who are unhappy with a plan to resume in-person teaching led a protest outside the school board building Tuesday, blaring horns and circling the parking lot in their vehicles.
The demonstration was livestreamed on Facebook by the Montgomery County Education Association, the teachers union representing more than 14,000 who work for the county. One speaker who did not identify himself said a safe and health workplace is a fundamental right, and called on a change to the current plan to welcome most students back into buildings starting March 15.
“The recently approved (Montgomery County Public Schools) reopening plan requires more space, more people and more resources than are now available,” said MCEA, which organized Tuesday’s car rally and picket together with SEIU Local 500.