The Board of Education of Anne Arundel County will meet in a virtual special session at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, March 30, 2021, to discuss the impact of the new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) distancing guidelines on the school system’s Spring 2021 reopening plan.
The meeting will begin at 4 p.m. and will be broadcast live on Anne Arundel County Public Schools’ YouTube page.
On March 19, 2021, the CDC issued new distancing guidelines for schools that call for:
- elementary school students to be at least 3 feet apart in classrooms where everyone is masked, regardless of whether community transmission is low, moderate, substantial, or high.
- middle and high school students to be at least 3 feet apart in classrooms where everyone is masked and where transmission is low, moderate, or substantial, but at least 6 feet apart in classrooms where everyone is masked and where transmission is high if cohorting is not possible. The CDC defines cohorting as “when groups of students are kept together with the same peers and staff throughout the school day to reduce the risk for spread throughout the school.”
- all students to be at least 6 feet apart when unmasked, such as when eating.
- adults and students to be at least 6 feet apart at all times.
The revised CDC guidelines do not increase school bus capacity. They also leave in place a 6-foot distance when determining close contacts of a known positive case, meaning that more students physical distanced by 3 feet would potentially be close contacts and required to quarantine.
The Board will not hear virtual live public comment during the meeting, but will accept written testimony through noon on Monday, March 29, 2021. Written comments can be submitted through an online form that can be found here. Comments must be no more than 250 words. Comments can also be dropped off at the Parham Building, located at 2644 Riva Road in Annapolis, before noon on March 29.
A complete agenda for the meeting accompanies this news release.