Saturday, August 01, 2020

Montgomery County prohibits opening of private schools through October 1

Sidwell Friends Lower School in
the Edgemoor neighborhood of Bethesda
Montgomery County Health Officer Travis Gayles issued an order prohibiting private schools in the county from opening through October 1, 2020. A statement from the County says Gayles will consider extending or terminating the order prior to October 1. Gayles said "the data does not suggest that in-person instruction is safe for students or teachers. We have seen increases in transmission rates for COVID-19 in the State of Maryland, the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Virginia, particularly in younger age groups, and this step is necessary to protect the health and safety of Montgomery County residents.”

The order came as many parents with the financial means to do so were scrambling to transfer their children out of Montgomery County Public Schools into private schools for the Fall 2020 semester. MCPS has already announced it will not offer in-class instruction, continuing an all-online instruction method begun this spring. A number of MCPS student athletes were also counting on transfers to private schools in order to play sports, so that they can be considered by colleges for scholarships.

As such transfer plans are now possibly moot, some are suggesting the County's move was political, to discourage a mass exodus from MCPS. If MCPS loses a significant number of students, it will also lose funding in the future. Some also questioned the legality of the order, calling for a legal challenge.

A few critics of President Trump cheered the move on social media, noting that the order would prevent his own son, Barron Trump, from receiving the in-classroom instruction the president has advocated for the nation. Barron Trump attends St. Andrews Episcopal School in Potomac.

Montgomery County says that any private school official who knowingly disobeys the ban on in-class instruction will face a one-year jail term, or a $5000 fine, or both.

3 comments:

  1. Essentially, we need to keep everything shut and disrupt lives as much as possible until election day.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous11:46 AM

    Does this affect pre-schools or childcare centers?

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  3. Anonymous11:31 AM

    The leftist teachers are behind this all. As usual no thought for children.
    I am not paying $120000 for 2 girls at Stone Ridge to sit at home to be lectured by commie teachers who are too lazy to put on clothes and get back to work.

    I am a lifelong democrat but voting for Trump because this is just absolutely ridiculous. I’m not paying taxes to have NO police come to my aid if house burglarized or daughters assaulted.

    I am sick of my daughters being taught by socialist teachers at Stone Ridge That they should be ashamed of being white while husband works 90 hours a week to pay their salaries
    Enough is enough

    These are not democrats who unionized my father’s construction job to send us to school

    This democrat party are Cuban communists

    My grandfather didn’t flee Cuba to have us deal with this crap

    ReplyDelete