The Board of Education of Anne Arundel County will hear another update and have further discussion on Anne Arundel County Public Schools’ 2020-2021 Reopening Plan at its next meeting, scheduled for November 4, 2020.
The adopted plan calls for students in ECI and Pre-K 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 implementation of the hybrid model is contingent on the continued meeting of COVID-19 case incidence rate health and safety metrics as established by the Anne Arundel County Department of Health. Students whose families do not choose 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 December.
The Board had extensive discussion on the launch date at its last meeting and will revisit that discussion on Wednesday.
Also at Wednesday’s meeting, the Board will discuss a student-focused needs assessment of the virtual and hybrid learning models, changing the start times of the elementary schools to more closely reflect the current virtual model schedule, directing the Countywide Citizen Advisory Committee to review and analyze the hybrid reopening plan, and establishing a committee to review prom and graduation activities at high schools.
The meeting will be held in the Board Room at the Parham Building, located at 2644 Riva Road in Annapolis. The Board will meet in a public session at 4 p.m. for the sole purpose of voting to immediately go into closed session, during which time it will discuss confidential matters as permitted by the Maryland Open Meetings Act including, but not limited to, legal advice, personnel, and negotiations.
The public may listen to the open portion of the meeting, including the vote to go into closed session, by calling 425-436-6365 and entering access code 6084054 followed by the pound/hashtag symbol.
The closed session portion of the meeting is not open to the public. The open session of the meeting will resume at 6 p.m.
Due to physical distancing requirements, the public will not be allowed to attend the meeting in person. The meeting, however, 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.
To ensure the opportunity for public input during the public portion of the meeting, the Board will accept written public comment for those items that appear on the agenda. Comments can be sent via email to BoardOffice@aacps.org no later than noon on Tuesday, November 3, 2020, or dropped off at the Parham Building no later than 4 p.m. on Monday, November 2, 2020.
Testimony on agenda items 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.
Testimony will be compiled and provided to Board members prior to the start of the meeting. It will also be posted online at www.aacps.org/boardtestimony. During the meeting, the Board and the public will be apprised of how many comments were received for each agenda item.
Concerns that are confidential, such as student-specific and personnel issues, cannot be published as part of public testimony.
Testimony that exceeds the 250-word limit will be trimmed to meet the criteria before being posted online. However, the full version will be provided to Board.
A complete agenda for the meeting accompanies this news release. More information on agenda items will be posted on the AACPS website in the Board Docs section under the Board of Education tab. The Board may choose to change the order in which agenda items are heard to meet the Board’s needs. Unless changed by the Board, items will be heard in the order in which they appear on the agenda.
Board of Education Meeting Agenda, 11-4-20