Schools Shouldn't Reopen Yet, MD Teachers Say After Hogan's Plea

ANNAPOLIS, MD — On Tuesday, Maryland teachers argued that schools should not yet reopen. Their push comes days after Gov. Larry Hogan urged schools to expand hybrid classes. The state teachers union, named the Maryland State Education Association, pointed to slow vaccine rollout and changing standards as reasons that most classes should stay online.

Maryland opened the door for educators to get the coronavirus immunization on Jan. 18. That's when the state moved into phase 1B of its five-part inoculation effort.

Though the state progressed to stage 1C a week later, some teachers are still having trouble getting a shot. Union President Cheryl Bost expressed her frustration in an open letter to Hogan and state Superintendent Karen Salmon.

"Many educators are hearing at your press conferences that they can now get vaccines only to find no vaccine available to them in their counties," Bost said. "It is deeply disappointing that you are spending your time and energy blaming and threatening educators rather than fixing the problems that are making it harder to reopen our schools."

Hogan has tried to ramp up vaccination across the state. He has activated the Maryland National Guard, incentivized slower counties to pick up their pace and prepared for mass immunization clinics.

Despite these actions, Maryland is still bound by the number of doses it receives from the federal government. With the state pressing hard on vaccines and health metrics starting to decline, Hogan believes it is safe to offer hybrid classes to all students.

"There is no public health reason for school boards to be keeping students out of schools," he said at a Thursday press conference. "None."

Bost, who teaches at a Baltimore County elementary school, thinks the numbers suggest otherwise.

"This statement would be laughable if it were not so dangerous," she said. "It is abundantly clear in light of the escalating number of infections, mutations, and deaths that coronavirus is anything but predictable."

The union president pointed to the health standards that the state previously set for reopening. Over the summer, the Maryland Department of Health advised that counties should only start hybrid classes if:

• Their rolling seven-day positivity rate is less than 5 percent or
• Their rolling seven-day case rate is less than 5 new infections-per-day per 100,000 residents

Health officials recommended fully in-person classes if a jurisdiction met both these benchmarks. This guidance is explained in the graphic below.

(Story continues below tweet)

Maryland currently satisfies neither metric. The statewide positivity rate is 6.64 percent. The case rate sits at 34.11, which is about seven times the state's previous target.

"You accused others of shifting goalposts, while you didn’t just move them, you now deny their existence," Bost said. "Is the positivity rate no longer important? Are cases per 100,000 no longer something to worry about?"

Granted, these numbers are falling. The positivity rate has declined since its recent peak of 9.47 on Jan. 3. That was the highest clip since June of 2020.

The case rate has plunged since Jan. 12, when the statistic hit an all-time high of 53.39. That meant cases were pouring in about three times as fast as they were during Maryland's springtime surge.

Though the state's numbers still have a way to go, Hogan trusts schools to follow safe practices. In a Jan. 21 joint letter to Bost, Hogan and Salmon said virtual learning does not serve all students equitably.

The duo alluded to Maryland's diminished academic performance. Students took home more failing grades in the fall of 2020 than the fall of 2019, they explained.

Hogan and Salmon added that the digital divide is still threatening many children, especially students of color and kids from families with lower incomes. They estimated that students will have lost five to nine months of cumulative learning by the end of this school year.

"The roadblocks to resuming in-person instruction must cease," their letter said. "The demonstrated mitigation efforts to protect all students and staff shall continue to be utilized in the school environment, and we will continue to assist local school systems as they seek to vaccinate all school staff in an efficient and appropriate manner."

Twenty of Maryland's 24 jurisdictions currently offer some form of hybrid classes to priority students. Bost said she would love to grow this safe reopening to all students, but she thinks the state is overlooking key health indicators.

"No one wants to get back to school safely and sustainably more than educators," Bost replied. "While your letter called for partnership, your actions have consistently and inappropriately tried to paint educators as opponents and obstacles."

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