Put Maryland students back in the classroom

One of the items not discussed in most of the articles about school shutdowns is the toll it is taking on the teacher-student educational dynamic. In recent weeks, multiple studies have been written about declining student performance that has caused Baltimore City Public Schools CEO Dr. Sonja Santelises to increase in-person instruction in mid-February (“Baltimore City will expand in-person learning to more schools; teachers union protests return to classrooms,” Jan. 12).

As an educator who was also ordered not to go to my university campus, I have made the best out of a difficult teaching situation. The difference between the two situations is that I teach adults who can make their own educational decisions. Public school teachers and the K-12 school environment are an important part of guiding youngsters to becoming well-rounded individuals. As an educator, I know that one other outcome from this research is to get a glimpse of how much work public school teachers will have to do to make up the learning which has been delayed.

Last Friday, Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford said the following: “We’re gonna have to figure out what to do in terms of the educational loss, because it’s going to be a disservice to a lot of these kids and all of us, if we just pass them along.”

“Before this,” he continued, a lot of children get moved to the next grade “when they really were not ready… And so, it may mean that we’re in summer school — six weeks or longer of summer classes — to get these kids back to the level they should be before they go to the next grade. A lot of parents are not gonna be happy about that.”

It is the front-line teachers and local school administrators who will have to work extra days with our kids to get everyone caught up. Bottom line, the sooner schools are opened, the smaller the mountain of work for teachers.

I am asking for all of the stakeholders — parents, superintendents and central office staff, local school boards, state and local county teacher’s union leaders, and local elected officials to put teachers and students back in classrooms across Maryland by the end of February.