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.