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No 'one-size-fits-all' metrics for taking schools virtual in Montgomery County, administrators say

School leaders admit authorities are making individual judgment calls on school closures, and acknowledge the anxiety parents are feeling.

BURTONSVILLE, Md. — Montgomery County authorities cited a lack of state or federal guidance as they tried to explain the thinking behind temporarily sending 16 additional schools in the county back to virtual learning beginning Thursday.

Assistant Montgomery County Administrator Dr. Earl Stoddard admitted decisions on school closures are individual judgment calls and said there are no hard-and-fast metrics that would trigger additional shifts to virtual learning at other schools. 

“We've been left at the local level to try and figure it out, essentially just make some guesses," said Dr. Stoddard, who has consulted with school officials on how to proceed. "But parents don't like guesses. They ask  'why did you create this threshold?' 'What was this threshold based on?'"

RELATED: 16 Montgomery County Public Schools go virtual for 10 days

Stoddard's comments were echoed by school leaders who briefed Council members on the situation Wednesday. Interim Superintendent Dr. Monifa McKnight called the decision-making process "complex."

“The challenges that are presented by COVID-19 are unlike anything our school system has ever experienced," McKnight said. "We’re all first-timers at this.”

However, some of the factors cited include how many qualified substitutes can be found to cover classes for sick teachers, the number of bus routes canceled due to sick drivers, as well as case-counts among students and staff.

At the request of WUSA9, administrators provided an example of the data they used to decide to take one high school virtual.

In the case of Paint Branch High School, 5.7% of requests for substitutes were going unfilled; 16.3% of staff were absent; 9% of bus routes were not running; and 9.3% of the student and staff population had tested positive.

Paint Branch is among the 16 schools doing virtual learning for 10 days. 

Read the letter in full that the school sent to the community below:

School authorities have not ruled out expanding the list depending on the continuing impact of the virus.

According to an announcement from administrators, the key factors used to make the virtual learning decision include:

● Positive COVID-19 case rates of students and staff (not an average)

● Student attendance rate (three-day average)

● Staff absences (three-day average)

● Number of bus routes unable to provide service in both morning and afternoon (three-day

average)

● Unfilled substitute requests (three-day average)

● Feedback from a multistakeholder group from the school community

System-wide 10,892 students reported positive for COVID since the beginning of the month, according to the school system's COVID dashboard and1,962 teachers were positive.

Stoddard also announced Wednesday that there are not enough rapid test kits available for Montgomery County to keep handing them out to students weekly. The school system requested an additional 90,000 test kits. Stoddard said based on the ability of suppliers to fulfill the county's most recent order, authorities can only supply the school system about 40,000 kits in the coming week.

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