The Board of Education of Anne Arundel County will hold a virtual public hearing on Anne Arundel County Public Schools’ reopening plan at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, October 28, 2020.
Due to time and virtual meeting platform constraints, the hearing, announced by Board President Michelle Corkadel at Wednesday night’s Board meeting, will be limited to 100 speakers who will be allotted two minutes each. Those interested in providing testimony to the Board must register to speak. Registration will be done through a link that will be made available on the front page of the AACPS website, www.aacps.org, at 9 a.m. on Monday, October 26. Registration will close when the number of speakers reaches capacity or at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, October 28, whichever occurs first.
The reopening plan adopted by the Board calls for students in ECI and prekindergarten through second grade whose families have so chosen to begin hybrid classes on Monday, November 16, attending on either Monday/Tuesday or Thursday/Friday and working virtually on other days. All students and teachers will work virtually on Wednesdays to allow for a thorough cleaning of school buildings.
On Monday, November 30, students in grades 3 through 5 whose families have so chosen will return in a hybrid format, operating under the same guidelines as students in ECI and prekindergarten through second grade.
The onset of the hybrid model is contingent on the continued meeting of reopening health and safety metrics as established by the Anne Arundel County Department of Health. Students whose families have not chosen for them to be enrolled in hybrid learning will remain in a virtual learning environment.
AACPS will continue to work with the Department of Health and closely monitor the health data to make further decisions on middle school and high school students, with the goal of beginning to bring those students into buildings in a hybrid format beginning in mid-December.
Those who wish to speak at Wednesday’s hearing but are unable to do so because of space limitations or other reasons can provide testimony to the Board by sending email to BoardOffice@aacps.org or dropping off testimony at the Parham Building no later than noon on Wednesday, October 28, 2020.
Written testimony must be 250 words or less and must include the name and community of residence of the author as well as any pertinent group affiliation. Written testimony will be compiled and provided to Board members. Testimony that meets the above guidelines will also be posted online at www.aacps.org/boardtestimony.
The hearing will be broadcast live on AACPS-TV, which can be found on Channel 96 on Comcast and Broadstripe, and Channel 36 on Verizon. High definition broadcasts can be seen on Channel 996 on Comcast, Channel 496 on Broadstripe, and Channel 1961 on Verizon. It can also be viewed live on AACPS’ YouTube channel here.