by Jack Miller ‘21

MCPS recently announced their plans for the return to in-person learning which is to occur in multiple phases spaced out between the months of March and April. The recovery plan details the adjustments which will be put in place to meet safety guidelines and the order in which varying groups of students will return. The plan neglects to mention whether or not teachers will all be vaccinated before returning to in-person instruction and whether or not students will have to be tested.

At this point, a return to in-person learning would be almost entirely futile, and the current plan doesn’t sound particularly safe. Given that instruction is to occur both online and in-person simultaneously, it doesn’t seem that there would be much benefit for students to return to school. Students who return to in-person learning will be taught the same lessons in the same manner, only with a higher risk of spreading a deadly virus. We’ve come this far with online learning, and the risk just doesn’t seem worth it anymore. If the metrics are met and the recovery plan is put in place, MCPS should at the very least require teachers to receive vaccinations and students to be tested beforehand.