MCPS set to return to in-person learning March 1

On Tuesday, Feb. 9, the Montgomery County Board of Education voted unanimously to bring small groups of CTE and special education students back to in-person schooling starting on March 1. This would be followed by phasing in the entire student body on March 15. The decision followed the board's previous announcement that students wouldn't return to school until March 15. 

Students have been split up into five phases, which will all be phased in throughout the months of March and April. Ideally, MCPS hopes for all students who opted in to a hybrid model to have returned to the building by April 26. Students will be further split into two groups: A and B, which will rotate going to school in person for four days every other week. Wednesday will still be a virtual asynchronous day for all students.

A link to a graphic posted by Nick Asante, the student member of the board, can be found here. This graphic details which students each group includes, when the groups will be phased in, and an overview of what in-person schooling will entail.

Some students expressed concern in the comments of Asante's post that students who are going into the school building are required to arrive at 7:45 a.m. despite first period not starting until 9:00 a.m. Asante explained that this decision was made for bus scheduling reasons, so that buses still have time to drop off elementary, middle, and high school students. The extra time at the beginning of the day for in-person students will be used for academic support.

As of now, just 40 percent of MCPS students will be returning to school this spring, according to results from the MCPS parent survey conducted in December. Students who would like to switch from virtual to in-person learning can contact their school's principal, but there is no guarantee of being able to switch due to state occupancy guidelines, says the Moco Show.

This story is fluid and will be updated as more information becomes available.