Worcester CountyPublic Schools

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.