Harford County School Officials Still Weighing Learning Options

BEL AIR, MD — As the new school year approaches, Harford County school officials are still grappling with what educating area students will look like as the ongoing coronavirus pandemic continues to present challenges.

The district currently has teams investigating options as to whether in-person learning will be able to resume after county schools shifted to a virtual model of teaching in the spring when the pandemic first hit. Superintendent Sean Burlson told Board of Education members Monday night that there is still no “perfect answer” to continual questions from parents, teachers and staff, but said the district is working to formulate a plan before the school year begins in early September.

“We may agree around our dislike for COVID-19 — right after that we start disagreeing, and there are many places where we have very strong opinions,” Bulson during a presentation of the current recovery plan to board members on Monday night, according to the Baltimore Sun.

Last week, the district released a draft of its recovery plan, which is based on guidance from Gov. Larry Hogan and State Superintendent of Schools Karen Salmon. A final version of the plan is scheduled to be released in August, but as of now, the plan allows for three different options for school to be held.

Among the considerations are a plan for classes to continue to be held virtually on a full-time basis as they were in the spring. The second plan calls for a combination of virtual and in-person learning with students attending classes in school for a portion of the week. The third option would involve schools being open for students but parents having the option to use a virtual learning platform.

Burlson told board members Monday that the district must present its final plan to state officials by Aug. 14 after the plan is provided to the Board of Education on Aug. 10. Teachers new to the district are expected to report Aug. 27 and 28 before the full staff reports Aug. 31 with classes slated to begin on Sept. 8.

Burlson acknowledges there is plenty of work to be done in the meantime.

“It’s going to be a tremendous challenge to build schedules,” Burlson said, who said that a survey to parents will be sent out to gauge what option district parents feel most comfortable with as the school year begins.

The superintendent and other school officials will host an online town hall for the public at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. Residents can view the town hall through Microsoft Teams and submit questions via email to HCPSTogether@hcps.org, officials said.