More than 100,000 students filled classrooms and hallways in Maryland’s second-largest school system Wednesday, many of them back for the first time in 18 months as a new school year started amid the persisting pandemic.
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Parents and students in Prince George’s County waited in lines outside school doors, excited for a day so long anticipated. But for many the thrill was tinged with a lingering anxiety, as the coronavirus crisis continues and pediatric cases get more attention.
More than 12,000 students in kindergarten through sixth grade opted for virtual instruction this fall, as part of a program in place until children younger than 12 are eligible for vaccination.
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For those attending in person, officials warned of delays with bus pickups and encouraged parents to consider driving, carpooling or walking with their children. The system, with 1,000 bus routes, needs 190 additional bus operators to be fully staffed, part of a national shortage.
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“All our drivers that are working now will be doing double runs and really making sure they get as many students in on time as possible,” said Monica Goldson, chief executive of the school system. Hiring fairs will continue, she said.
Goldson spoke as she welcomed students and their families early Wednesday at Deerfield Run Elementary School in Laurel.
“We’re back in school,” she said. “It’s been a long time coming.”
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Safety measures in place include a mask mandate, testing on-site for those with symptoms and a teacher vaccination rate of 80 percent, she said.
Many students in Laurel and across the 132,000-student system have learned virtually since March 2020. Last spring, after school buildings reopened on a part-time, “hybrid” schedule, just 30 percent of the student body returned in person.
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But in recent days, some parents and elected officials have raised concerns about a lack of surveillance testing. Such testing can give a clearer picture of the state of coronavirus infections in a school, since people can be asymptomatic while the virus spreads.
Jonathan Abraham and Nicole Clem, parents of first- and third-graders, say they would prefer a testing program that would capture asymptomatic cases and potentially head off a larger problem.
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“If random testing can help prevent the spread of this, that would make me feel better,” Clem said.
Prince George’s was hit particularly hard by coronavirus cases, with more than other Maryland jurisdictions — roughly 93,120, according to The Washington Post’s tracker.
Goldson said Wednesday that the school system was looking into the specifics of incorporating surveillance testing and would release information by week’s end.
School systems open for full-scale, in-person learning
Prince George’s is one of the latest-starting school systems in the Washington region, with most others opening in August. Across Maryland, eight of 24 school systems opened after Labor Day, according to state officials.
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Teachers were feeling the thrill of returning, mixed with concern about safety, said Donna Christy, president of the Prince George’s County Educators’ Association, the local teachers union. In-person classes were small last spring, she said, while classes this fall are closer to the norm.
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Another challenge, Christy said, is that the recent expansion of the virtual option for young students will require many educators to do simultaneous instruction again — a method many teachers across the country found difficult last year. “Those teachers will have to teach in-person and virtual students at the same time,” she said.
What to know about school masks, staff vaccines and quarantines in the D.C. area
At Deerfield Run Elementary on Wednesday morning, families were looking forward to greater normalcy.
Jasir McGill, 6, was starting kindergarten — waiting in line with his father, Jason, grandmother Robin McGill-Jones and 3-year-old sister Journi.
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“I’m excited,” he said, wearing a car-decorated mask and a Batman backpack.
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His grandmother said the family was a little hesitant because it’s hard to know if everyone at school is being as careful as possible. “It does give you a little apprehension,” she said, adding that she is praying for all at the school.
Nearby, Caiah Calloway waited for the start of the first day with her parents, Aicha and Calvin. Everything she was wearing was back-to-school new — her school uniform, her pink sneakers, her Lilo and Stitch backpack and her colorful star-adorned mask.
The 5-year-old was “nervous and excited,” she said.
“I want to learn science,” she said.
Aicha Calloway said the family had enrolled Caiah in virtual learning for the fall, then switched her this week to in-person education.
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“I think kids need to be in school around other kids for their mental health,” Aicha said. Although she is concerned about the virus and its variants, she said, her kindergartner has been at home for 18 months and socialization is important.
“It’s time,” she said.
Calvin Calloway added that some of the family’s confidence in the decision comes from the child herself, who has learned at home about safety practices.
“I know my kid is going to wear a mask, and I know my kid is going to keep her hands sanitized,” he said. “It’s a habit that’s already there now that gives us a little more comfort in bringing her back.”