Vigilance is key to victory over virus in schools

With more than 22,000 of our students having now been back in classrooms, and another 8,900 set to return to hybrid learning environments next week, two things are abundantly clear.

First, we truly are better together. Even with what remains ahead of us, there is no conceivable way that we could be where we are without the commitment of everyone involved with our school system.

From our awesome employees to families, students, community partners, and governmental agencies, there is no one who has not played a part in getting us to this point.

Second, this is no time to let our guard down.

As our students and staff continue to interact — at an appropriate distance — in our buildings and on our athletic fields, we must redouble our efforts to be aware of our surroundings and to continue to ensure that the protocols established through collaborative efforts with the Anne Arundel County Department of Health are followed.

That means mask-wearing, physical distancing, and frequent hand washing. It also means, however, that we must resist every urge to congregate or otherwise put ourselves in situations that may increase spread and either halt or, worse yet, reverse the progress we have made to return to school and sports fields.

In the hybrid learning environment, our students are back in buildings two days each week. It is my desire to increase that to four by the end of the school year, and to begin the 2021-2022 school year with students and teachers fully in person five days each week. We will be aggressive but prudent as we move forward, but that is absolutely the goal toward which our team is working.

As the weather improves and, hopefully, the case numbers continue to fall, it will be increasingly easy for all of us to take advantage of newfound opportunities that relaxed restraints allow. Last week, as an example, Gov. Larry Hogan removed restrictions that called for Marylanders traveling beyond four adjacent states and Washington, D.C., to either quarantine or get a negative COVID-19 test upon their return.

That will likely encourage more people to get away — for a day or a weekend — to reclaim some relaxation that has been missing for a year. With Easter/Spring Break less than a month away, however, throwing caution to the wind could be catastrophic for our schools.

The same applies to athletics and other extracurricular activities, and to high school graduations. We want every one of those things to happen this spring, and we want to be able to have families of our students watch and take part to whatever extent is prudent, safe, and practical. Whatever plans we develop will go too slow for some, I am sure. However, we will continue to make decisions after consulting with our Department of Health experts so that the course we chart is a prudent one.

We must also remember that our schools are reflections of the communities in which they are located. A spike in cases in a community will almost certainly be reflected in our schools as children and adults alike traverse from their homes into our buildings to partake in instruction.

What we have seen to date have not been “school cases,” but rather community cases that involve people who are now, with the onset of hybrid learning, on our campuses and in our schools.

We have come so far over the last several months.

The looks on the faces of our children, our families, and our employees as they have rekindled relationships over the last two weeks has been awesome to see. There is more of that joy to come, but only if we continue to show vigilance as we travel this road together.