MCPS Reopening Plan Picks Up Speed, Some Students To Return Early

Rockville MD

24 March, 2021

9:27 PM

Description

ROCKVILLE, MD — The Montgomery County Board of Education has decided to accelerate its pandemic reopening plan. At a school board meeting on Tuesday, members voted unanimously to combine the last two phases of the plan — allowing students in grades 7 through 11 to return to in-person learning on April 19. Initially, seventh and 10th graders were set to come back on April 26. Board members said they supported the change after observing three successful weeks of in-person learning. MCPS began welcoming students back to classrooms on March 1 — nearly a year after Gov. Larry Hogan (R) closed down schools due to COVID-19. About 500 students with special needs, as well as about 230 students in career and technical programs, were the first to return. Larger groups of students — including kindergarteners, second-graders, and third-graders — returned for in-person learning on March 15. The next batch of students will start coming back on April 8. They were initially supposed to return on April 6, but the school board delayed it over concerns about spring break travel.