In the weeks leading up to winter break, the all too familiar nightmare reappeared with a different name: Omicron. Like only a lingering shadow, COVID had retreated to the backs of everyone’s minds. Until Monday, Dec. 20, when Maryland broke their zero case streak and gained a record breaking 28,500 cases overnight, according to CDC archives. Frazzled teachers scrambled to piece together a virtual plan, and students flinched at the mere sound of a cough. It had become apparent that a call for action was necessary. Teachers were troubleshooting Zoom links again while students dropped like flies into a daunting two-week quarantine. Then MCPS stepped in. 

They set a plan in place: Any school with 5% or more of students and staff members positive for COVID would transition to virtual learning. Not only did this plan ease the stress of making up all the work students would miss if they contracted COVID, but it gave teachers the flexibility to organize their lesson plans without the pressure of having to account for an endless absence of students. There was a concrete setup that immediately calmed all the dread of uncertainty, especially since these last few weeks were not only the end of the quarter, but the semester. For high schools, this time was pivotal for grades and college application submissions. And despite virtual school being less than ideal, the plan in place provided a sense of security when it felt like the ground could crumble at any moment. 

Over break, 11 schools passed the marker and ended up starting virtual learning after break ended. However, only three days back, 115 new schools surpassed the threshold with no signs of slowing down. Cases more than tripled each day as schools prepared to transition to virtual learning upon the go-ahead from MCPS Board of Education. Except what followed wasn’t the expected. After 72 hours of radio silence, Superintendent Monifa Mcknight released a statement retracting the 5% threshold plan. 

This announcement stated that the Maryland government hadn’t recommended any automatic trigger for the suspension of in-person learning and so MCPS wouldn’t be following through with it. This left parents, students, teachers and school administrators shell shocked. Suddenly it was as if the blanket of hope and reassurance had been ripped away to reveal an even deeper pit of confusion and disconnect between those in charge of our school system, and those in it. 

Even with the following weeks averaging out to 3,000 new cases a day solely in Montgomery County, the Board of Education released nothing more. Teachers went back to scrambling as this unforeseen break in plans caused twice the amount of chaos. Suddenly students had to quarantine with barely any virtual tools available to them and missed over 10 days of instruction. Substitutes became scarce, forcing other teachers to give up their free periods to teach classes for sick colleagues. Availability of bus drivers diminished to an extent where students were waiting an extra 45 minutes after school for a bus to complete its route and return for them. With all these complications and then the lasting impacts on student grades and their ability to keep up with the pace of the class, it grows harder to see how the abandonment of the 5% threshold plan was in any way helpful or safe for this community.