Worcester CountyPublic Schools

Beginning tomorrow, January 12, several changes to our Responsible Return 2.0 plan will go into effect.

Tonight, I am reaching out to you tonight to let you know that the Board of Education has approved a change to this school year’s calendar.

I am calling tonight to let you know of a change we have made to our Responsible Return 2.0 protocols regarding student quarantine. Following consultation with the Maryland Department of Health and our local health officials, beginning on Monday, November 15, Worcester County Public Schools will add a 7-day modified quarantine option for students who meet specific eligibility requirements.

In our efforts to be fully transparent with our families and community at large, we have established a new COVID-19 dashboard as a part of the Responsible Return 2.0 hub of our website, www.worcesterk12.org.

I wanted to send a brief message to you tonight to express my sincerest thanks for your help and support in making our first two weeks of school so successful.

Since the very beginning of this pandemic, our leaders here in Worcester County Public Schools have been dedicated to making sure our students have the best educational opportunities we can provide. Because of this commitment, we have made every effort to make safe, consistent, in person learning a reality for our students.

Good evening families, this is your Superintendent Lou Taylor, and I have some very important information to share with you in advance of students returning to school next month.

Superintendent Taylor wishes the entire WCPS community a safe, healthy, and happy summer.

Good evening, families, staff, and most importantly, good evening, students. As your superintendent, I am honored again today to come to speak to you for just a few minutes as we approach the end of our school year.

As you may have heard over the past months, Maryland school districts are developing a virtual learning option for the 2021-2022 school year.

As you may know, the Governor announced last week some new guidance regarding wearing face coverings outdoors. Since that time, we have been awaiting guidance from local health officials regarding the implications of his executive order on schools. We received that information today.

Good evening families, I want to share with you that as we continue to monitor the community spread of COVID-19, we have decided to make some changes regarding our health and safety protocols as they relate to a classroom or school outbreak.

Good evening Worcester families, and most importantly, good evening, Worcester County students. It’s an honor once again for me to come to you today to talk about where we are in our school system, our return plan, and all the great things that are happening on a daily basis here on Worcester County Public Schools today.

Superintendent Lou Taylor is joined by Worcester County Sheriff Matt Crisafulli to share a message on school safety.

I want to thank you for making our transition into Stage 4 of our Responsible Return so successful. Your commitment to the 4 W’s continues to be pivotal to keeping all students and staff healthy and safe in our schools.

As always, it is an honor for me to come and speak to you, and to fill you in where we are and where we're going. Today is no different. I am so happy to see things going the way they are going, and I thank all of you for your cooperation in this process.

First, I want to thank you for all of your help to make our return to in-person learning so successful. In light of these successes, I am excited to let you know that on March 8, 2021, Worcester County Public Schools will move into Stage 4 of our Responsible Return plan

Good evening Worcester families, and good evening to our staff, our teachers, and our students. I can't begin to tell you of the excitement that is filling our classrooms each and every day as we return to the classroom.

It has been my honor over the past several weeks to see how our schools have come to a reopening plan to bring back our students. Our Responsible Return plan has worked, even though there have been a few adjustments along the way.

On Monday, February 8th we will move into Stage 3 of our Responsible Return Model with Hybrid instruction--A Week/B Week.

What an honor it is for me today to come and speak with you in reference to our Responsible Return. As all of you know, this week was an exciting week for us as 30% of our students returned to our buildings.

As I shared with you last Friday, our faculty and staff returned to the classroom this week, which has been a very successful transition. We are also very excited to welcome back to the classroom our first wave of students on Tuesday.

As promised, I wanted to share with you some important information regarding our Responsible Return. Since my last message to you, we have been working diligently to further safeguard our schools to ensure your child and our faculty and staff are able to safely begin the transition to in-person learning.

We apologize immensely for the contents of this message as it is a change to the messaging that we sent out on Tuesday, December 29. I hope that you understand that it is unavoidable.

First, I hope you and yours are having a safe, healthy, and happy holiday season. I know this year was unlike any other, with many of us making the necessary sacrifices to ensure the safety of our family members and our community as a whole.

As you know, on Sunday, we made the very difficult decision to go back to Stage One of our Responsible Return model, which meant all schools transitioned back to distance learning.

As outlined in the guidance provided by the Maryland Department of Health and the Maryland Department of Education, our leadership team has been closely following the community statistics for COVID-19.

As this week comes to a close for our students, I wanted to take a moment tonight to just communicate to you where we are and how our Responsible Return will continue moving forward.

This evening, I want to share with you that effective tomorrow, November 11, Worcester Technical High School will be moving to distance learning until November 30.

First, I want to reassure you that the Governor’s announcements this evening does not impact school systems. In light of this, we are staying the course and observing all of our protocols as planned.

Over this past week, I have felt compelled to reach out to our school system family. To me, that always includes our students and their families, our teachers and staff, their families, and our Worcester County community at large.

Good evening, families. First, I owe you all an apology regarding our connectivity. When I shared my message with you on Monday, we truly believed we had repaired the hardware issue on our end, and our internet was fully functional throughout that evening and yesterday.

I wanted to reach out tonight to share an update with you on our Responsible Return model. As you know, we are currently in Stage Two of our Return, with all of our schools welcoming back groups of students in waves, as we reevaluate health and safety conditions every two weeks.

I know that last night’s press conference from our Governor and State Superintendent has prompted a lot of questions from you on the start of the school year. First, I want to state plainly that our plans have not changed, and this is due to the fact that our model is right in line with what the Governor and State Superintendent outlined in their remarks. ​

Superintendent Lou Taylor says good-bye as the 2019-2020 scholastic's year comes to a close.

Earlier today, I addressed both the Board of Education and the public during the Board’s regularly scheduled meeting. Each month, I share remarks about our school system, but today, I felt compelled to speak out in regard to the events that are currently tearing at the fabric of our nation.

It’s unfortunate that today our state Superintendent of Schools and our Governor announced that school would be closed for the remainder of the academic year. I am so disappointed because I wanted to see all of you back, but in light of what's happening with the pandemic, we must think of safety first, and the health and welfare of each of you is the most important part of our lives.

As you have likely heard, our Governor and State Superintendent of Schools have extended the closure of our schools through May 15th, to mitigate the spread of coronavirus disease.

This week marks the first week of all of our students participating in Continuity of Learning. We are very proud of the work our teachers and instructional leaders have done to craft creative and engaging lessons for our students, and I have enjoyed seeing that engagement in real time through photos and posts from both our families and our teachers.

As we come to the end of the third week of our school facilities remaining closed, I am proud to share with you that learning has resumed for our high school students this week, and I am excited for the rest of our students to join them in distance learning on Monday.

As you have likely heard, our Governor and State Superintendent of Schools have extended the closure of our schools through April 24, to mitigate the spread of coronavirus disease. ​

As we come to the end of this first week of our mandated closure, I wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you to our incredible community for your continued support throughout this health crisis.

Earlier this evening, State Superintendent of Schools Dr. Karen Salmon joined Governor Larry Hogan for a press conference to update our state on the latest developments with coronavirus disease. During this press conference, he announced that Maryland has had its first case of community transmission of the coronavirus, indicating that this health crisis has moved into a new phase.