Democratic official threatens school closures, new mandates over COVID-19 booster numbers
A Maryland Democratic official is threatening new mandates and "virtual school" if residents in his county fail to increase the county's COVID-19 vaccine "booster numbers."
What are the details?
Marc Elrich (D) is the country executive of Montgomery County, the most populous county in Maryland. Over the weekend, he threatened residents with new draconian restrictions.
Elrich said that weathering a future surge without new restrictions would require residents to "increase our booster numbers," thus implying that if COVID-19 vaccine booster inoculation does not become more widespread, the county would enact restrictions in the face of a new COVID wave.
"Being fully vaccinated at this point is not being completely protected," Elrich said. "For us to weather future upticks and surges without mandates, virtual learning, or restrictions — we must increase our booster numbers."
Being fully vaccinated at this point is not being completely protected. For us to weather future upticks and surges without mandates, virtual learning, or restrictions - we must increase our booster numbers. Find a vaccination site here: http://ow.ly/cYqj50IQhqq— County Exec Marc Elrich (@County Exec Marc Elrich) 1650801619
Ironically, Montgomery County is one of the most vaccinated counties in the United States.
Data shows that 93% of Montgomery County residents age 5 or older are vaccinated against COVID-19, including 95% of residents over 65. Meanwhile, 77% of residents 65 or older — the age demographic most vulnerable to COVID-19 — are boosted while 47% of all residents are boosted.
Elrich's threat predictably drew backlash.
One critic pointed out that booster shots do not prevent case surges. A self-avowed "fellow liberal" urged Elrich to "please stop," suggesting that he should instead focus on issues that actually impact Montgomery County residents, like crime. Another local resident called Elrich an "authoritarian."
"This is very misguided, wrong messaging and application of science all in 1 tweet! Threatening virtual learning for the Least at risk, based on knowing the negative impact it had, because of booster rates, even though having booster doesn’t prevent cases and prevent an 'uptick'!" said WTTG-TV senior vice president Patrick Paolini.
"At least they’re open about it: Do what we say or we will force you with mandates or taking away school from your kids," noted conservative commentator Karol Markowicz.
Anything else?
Elrich's threat to send kids back to "virtual school" (i.e., closing schools) is particularly jarring because of the well-known negative impacts of closing schools.
Not only did students suffer significant learning loss during school closures, but mental health struggles are now plaguing children and teenagers. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization says the impact of school closures is "particularly severe for the most vulnerable and marginalized boys and girls and their families."
Elrich has been endorsed for re-election by the local school union.
Maryland county closes schools over COVID but opens 'Equity Hubs' where kids can meet in person to learn virtually
As four schools in Montgomery County, Maryland, have temporarily closed in response to surging COVID-19 cases, the school district is offering "Equity Hubs" where students can meet together in person to learn virtually.
Montgomery County Public Schools announced last week that Loiederman Middle School, Harmony Hills, Pine Crest, and Wheaton Woods elementary schools, and the autism program at Westover Elementary School will revert to virtual learning for 10 days beginning Monday. The schools are expected to reopen Feb. 10, the district said.
While the schools are closed, MCPS is providing spaces where students in kindergarten through grade 5 can gather in person for "a safe place to learn while their parents work." According to the district, not every student has access to virtual learning at home, and some live in a situation where at-home learning is difficult. These so-called Equity Hubs are a solution designed to provide a "more structured learning environment" for poor kids whose home lives make virtual learning a struggle.
MCPS is working with the Black and Brown Coalition for Educational Equity and Excellence and the Children’s Opportunity Fund, two certified child care providers, to establish these Equity Hubs, which first opened in fall 2020 at the height of school closures during the coronavirus pandemic. Students who qualify can meet in person Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. til 5 p.m. at schools located throughout Montgomery County. Child care providers at these Equity Hubs follow "strict health and safety guidelines," provide meals and exercise/play for the kids, and assign two staff members for each group of 13 students.
According to the Greater Washington Community Foundation, the Children's Opportunity Fund raised over $4.6 million in 2020 to enroll 1,500 students across 70 sites. In January 2021, MCPS and Montgomery County Council provided another $3.6 million to support the Equity Hubs through March 2021, when schools reopened.
There are 165,267 students enrolled in Montgomery County's 209 schools, 25.4% of whom are economically disadvantaged, according to U.S. News & World Report. Only a tiny fraction of them are served by the Equity Hubs.
Critics questioned why the schools are safe enough to open for these Equity Hubs but not safe enough to resume normal in-person learning.
They're doing it again.\n\nSchools safe enough for daycare but not for learning.\n\nThe additional cost is $300 per student per week\n\nMontgomery County Public Schools already spend about $17,000 per student per year\n\nGive that money directly to families so they can find alternatives.https://twitter.com/MCPS/status/1486724665510825991\u00a0\u2026— Corey A. DeAngelis (@Corey A. DeAngelis) 1643338583
Montgomery County going virtual and then having the same students bring their laptops to a school without teachers and calling them Equity Hubs is beyond ridicule. These people shouldn\u2019t run a bake sale.https://twitter.com/MCPS/status/1486724665510825991\u00a0\u2026— Rory Cooper (@Rory Cooper) 1643377203
Like a work of absurdist art. An "Equity Hub" is school. It's just in-person school, which the county is admitting it CAN offer to offset the disastrous harm caused by its refusal to offer... in-person school.https://twitter.com/MCPS/status/1486724665510825991\u00a0\u2026— Mary Katharine Ham (@Mary Katharine Ham) 1643377812
What is MCPS doing with these school closures???\n\nThe literature is quite clear that closures INCREASE transmission.\n\nThe wave is long past peaked in Maryland.\n\nAre they trying to prop it back up? Or just this dumb?\n\nCongrats to the kids who qualify for "Equity Hubs" though!https://twitter.com/MCPS/status/1486724665510825991\u00a0\u2026— Phil Kerpen (@Phil Kerpen) 1643378468
The decision to close Montgomery County schools again was made after "a review of multiple key factors and input from a multi-stakeholder group." MCPS said the switch to virtual learning was made "in the interest of the overall school community's health and safety," but did not specify what those factors were or who those stakeholders are.
WTOP-TV reported last week that COVID-19 cases in the county are declining "precipitously," but health officials warn case rate numbers are "still at the highest they’ve been during the pandemic."
County Executive Marc Elrich said last Wednesday that cases in the county have fallen 51% since the week before, at 579.81 cases per 100,000.
“We can’t celebrate just yet, and we have to pivot our focus on what’s next," Elrich said.
He reported that the county has seen 120 COVID-19 deaths in January, more than the previous four months combined.
“More people in the state of Maryland have died from COVID this month than any other month in the pandemic,” he said.
Elrich and other county health officials strongly encouraged residents to get vaccinated against COVID-19 with booster shots to avoid serious illness or death from COVID-19 infection.
Chicago Teachers Union on verge of strike for virtual teaching during COVID-19 surge
Most schools nationwide are supposed to return students to the classroom this week as Christmas break ends. But Chicago teachers could upend the city's plans for in-person learning with a strike over what they say are unsafe working conditions because of a surge of coronavirus cases.
The Chicago Teachers Union will vote Tuesday on whether its more than 25,000 members will refuse to go to work in person on Wednesday and demand that they be allowed to phone in to their jobs virtually. According to WBEZ-FM, 80% of the 8,000 members who attended a CTU virtual town hall Sunday evening did not want to work in person in Chicago Public Schools under current conditions.
The union has been foreshadowing a strike for days. Last week, the union surveyed its members asking if they would "support a district-wide pause and temporary shift to remote learning." They also polled members on whether they'd be willing to "participate in a city-wide work stoppage" if the union's demands are not met.
Studies have shown that viral transmission for COVID-19 in schools is "extremely rare" and that schools can reopen safely. Additionally, virtual learning has been demonstrated to negatively impact student performance, with math and English test scores plummeting in Chicago Public Schools during the pandemic, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Classes in Chicago resumed Monday after a two-week break for the Christmas and New Year holidays. City and district officials have vowed to keep schools open with students and teachers physically present in the classroom, potentially putting them in conflict with the union's demands.
“What we have learned from this pandemic is that schools are the safest place for students to be: we have spent over a $100 million to put mitigations in place, most CPS staff members are vaccinated, and we generally see little transmission in school settings,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a statement Monday.
"Keeping kids safely in school where they can learn and thrive is what we should all be focused on," she said.
Chicago Public Schools echoed the mayor's support for in-person learning in a statement also issued Monday. The district warned that "districtwide, unwarranted and preemptive mass school closures could actually fuel community spread." CPS also said it has been meeting with union representatives and has "reiterated that a case-by-case, school-by-school approach is the best way to approach COVID-19 concerns in schools."
The city is making its case for in-person learning as a surge of COVID-19 hospitalized 6,294 people statewide on Monday, the highest number of hospitalizations since the pandemic began, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.
IDPH also reported a daily average of 23,069 new COVID cases and an average of 59 COVID-related deaths per day.
CPS maintains that safety measures including masking, contact tracing, testing, cleaning, air purifiers, and widespread vaccination are sufficient to protect teachers from serious COVID-19-related illness or death.
However, several issues with the virus test kits provided to parents for their children over winter break have complicated the debate over reopening. WBEZ reported that CPS provided 150,000 at-home testing kits for students. But many parents who tested their children and returned the sample by last week's deadline were told the tests could not be analyzed.
Parents were told via email that the tests could not be processed within the required 48-hour window "due to weather and holiday related shipping issues," WBEZ reported.
Further, more than half of the test results submitted came back as "invalid." Of the 35,831 tests completed over the past week, 24,989 were invalid and 18% came back positive, according to CPS' COVID tracker.
On top of the processing problems, CPS said that more than 100,000 of the 150,000 tests made available to parents of schoolchildren were never submitted.
The teachers' union has seized on the testing issues as justification for keeping teachers away from in-person learning. CTU has demanded that the school district require students and staff to present a negative COVID-19 test before attending in-person classes. In the absence of adequate testing, the union wants to switch to remote learning for two weeks.
“Here we are, a year later in the cold in January, performing another remote action, because [CPS] can’t get it right,” CTU Vice President Stacy Davis Gates said Monday.
The union is also demanding high-quality masks for all students and staff and a policy to switch to virtual classes if 20% of a school's staff is in isolation or quarantine for COVID-19.
California Teachers Unions Team Up With Democrats To Mask Students In Half-Hearted Return To School
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