Virtual School In Harford County: Families, Lawmakers Push Back

BEL AIR, MD — Maryland State Delegate Mike Griffith is one of several parents calling upon Harford County Public Schools to offer families options other than all-virtual learning as the start of the school year approaches. Under the current plan, students in Harford County Public Schools will receive instruction remotely when the fall semester begins Tuesday, Sept. 8.

"This is an issue that impacts students from every corner of our county," Griffith said, speaking at a news conference he organized Thursday near Red Pump Elementary School to draw attention to the problems caused by the current path forward.

"The proposed plan will have negative effects on students with special needs, students in rural areas, students of low-income areas," Griffith said, "and of course their families."

Griffith said he worked with superintendent and governor to apply for CARES Act funding to pay for personal protective equipment for the school system "to help get our kids in school soon." He asked Harford County Public Schools to provide families with a choice.

"We have advocated for — at the very least — a hybrid model that allows choice for parents and teachers alike, as many students have shown in-person learning is vital," said Griffith.

His son, a 6-year-old who has severe autism, "suffered significantly" since the spring and has "benefited significantly" from in-person instruction at Hickory Elementary School, he said.

For students in the younger grades, in particular, there are hurdles at the outset of the semester. Due to a device shortage, kindergarten through third-grade students will not have school system-issued laptops. Their parents were told to pick up packets at their schools and have been instructed they will need to teach them, Griffith said.

Susanne Reiter of Bel Air said the "11th-hour request" made Aug. 28 for families to come up with their own devices left her household "scrambling" to purchase two overpriced Chromebooks.

She and her husband spent $1,036 — the equivalent of six part-time shifts for her husband or her entire biweekly paycheck — so her sons would have laptops, she said.

The school system offered a “mountain of excuses,” according to Reiter, who asked Thursday for school system leaders to provide a "clear and reasonable explanation of its plan going forward."

State Sen. Jason Gallian, whose daughters are in kindergarten and first grade, said his are among the 15,000 Harford County Public Schools students starting classes without Chromebooks. Gallian said he was concerned about disenfranchising lower-income students and financially burdening parents — who are taxpayers — to shoulder the cost of getting laptops themselves. Connectivity issues in parts of Harford County was also problematic, he said.

"Thousands of families in the county do not have access to high-speed internet," Gallian said. "Teaching is completely ineffective if the internet connection is lost."

Gov. Larry Hogan and State Superintendent of Schools Karen Salmon said schools should make plans to bring students back to physical classrooms and offered funding to those that moved forward in the first quarter toward in-person learning, at an Aug. 27 news conference.

"Following the governor's announcement last week, I encourage our school officials to get our children back in chool as soon and safely as possible," Gallian said Thursday, Sept. 3.

About 5 percent of students will attend Learning Support Centers at school buildings, according to Harford County Public Schools Superintendent Sean Bulson.

"HCPS' Learning Support Centers are the first step to returning students to school buildings," Bulson said.

Harford County Delegation 'Very Concerned'

Senators Bob Cassilly, Gallion and J.B. Jennings as well as Delegates Kathy Szeliga, Teresa Reilly, Susan McComas and Lauren Arikan as well as Griffith signed a letter to Harford County Public Schools Aug. 27 asking that school officials "revisit their decision" to hold the first semester online and to give families and teachers a choice about whether to return to the classroom.

"Many students have not opened a textbook since March, and extending that arrangement for another semester is unthinkable," the elected officials wrote. "We are very concerned that the adopted plan for remote learning fails to meet even the basic educational needs of far too many students."

They said they had heard from "countless parents" whose children struggled with the remote learning setup in the spring, after schools closed in March to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

'Great Harm' Possible With Schools Closed

Maryland's positivity rate for the coronavirus has been under 5 percent since June 25, Hogan said, which is the recommended benchmark for reopening. In Harford County, the positivity rate was 3.97 percent as of Tuesday, Sept. 1, according to the Maryland Department of Health.

“The virus is not circulating widely in the community,” Harford County Councilman Chad Shrodes said at Thursday's news conference. The positivity rate "has remained under 4 percent for two consecutive weeks" in Harford County, he said.

“If we begin the year with schools closed or at only 5 percent of their capacity, we are falsely led to assume that this is our only safe option," Gallion said. "It is an uncontrolled experiement supported supported by incomplete data."

Said Gallion: "Returning to schools carries little risk, yet keeping them closed costs our students and our communities dearly and causes great harm, potentially a lifetime of damage for some children."

One was the son of Amanda Bosley-Smith of Forest Hill.

It has been "debilitating" for her son — who has autism, is nonverbal and suffers from anxiety — to function without school for five months, she said. Since March when schools closed, he has regressed into self harming behaviors, according to his mother, who said his year-round school was not meeting.

"This abandonment is not only detrimental in the short term," Bosley-Smith said, but "will affect him for the rest of his life.”

It has also negatively impacted everyone in her family, since her son requires one-to-one instruction.

"It feels like the school system is holding my son and my entire family hostage," Bosley-Smith said.

Thursday's news conference was not the first time families have expressed concern.

Four weeks ago, parents and students protested outside the Harford County Board of Education meeting, calling for in-person classes to resume. Days later, the school board voted to approve the virtual learning plan.

“Put our children over politics and make the right choice,” Griffith said. "Please stop telling us what can't be done and please work with us to tell us what we can do."

Related:

• Maryland Schools May Begin Safely Reopening: Governor Hogan
• HCPS Superintendent Responds To Delegation On Virtual Learning
• Device Shortage In Harford County Public Schools Prompts New Plan
• More Planning Needed Before In-Person School: HCPS Superintendent
• Protesters Call For Harford County Public Schools To Open: Report
• HCPS Virtual Learning Plan Approved By Harford County Board Of Ed