The start of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020 caused a massive upheaval in Montgomery County. Lives were lost, people were sickened, businesses closed. Covid-19 forced the County to take action to try to stop the virus from spreading. That included closing down school. Tens of thousands of schoolchildren would now attend class virtually instead of face-to-face. Most children remained at home the following school year, and it was not until the start of the 2021-2022 school year when students were physically back in their classrooms.
School Leaders Reflect Back
MCM spoke with three school leaders: Laura Stewart is currently on the School Board representing District 4. Stewart was serving as Vice President for Advocacy on the Montgomery County Council (MCC) of PTAs when the pandemic hit.
Laura Mitchell is currently the Vice President of Administration with MCCPTA. Five years ago, she was a member of the same PTA group. Back then, she also served as President of the Parent Teacher Student Association chapter at Parkland Magnet Middle School.
Dr. Jermaine Williams is currently the President of Montgomery College. While he was not at the College when the pandemic first started, he was serving in higher education at that time. He joined the College in February 2022 and Covid-19 was still causing a major disruption in education.
“It was a very interesting time. There were so many unknowns. You think students will be back in the classroom in a week, perhaps in two weeks, but then it became very obvious that it was going to be quite a while,” Mitchell said.
“We all had a hard time pivoting to the new normal. We didn’t know what to expect. I remember during the summer of 2020, as we got closer and closer to September, we felt the urgency of trying to find a way to get back into school,” Stewart said.
“I was less than a year into my first Community College Presidency at Nassau Community College in Garden City, New York when the pandemic hit. We had to make a lot of decisions quickly and coherently. We worked very hard and collaborated across divisions and with Nassau County, New York State, and beyond. Keeping everyone safe and healthy was our first priority while we simultaneously set up remote instruction so students could continue on their learning path,” Williams said.
Personal Stories
Mitchell was particularly worried because her granddaughter, Morgan, a seventh grader at the time, had recently been diagnosed with autism. She was not sure how the shift to remote learning would impact her. Mitchell also was worried about her own health. She has a medical condition that was particularly vulnerable to Covid-19.
“We had a lot of change; we needed a lot of flexibility. There was a lot of focus on being steady and positive,” Mitchell said.
Stewart said there was a lot of anxiety during this time. She had her own fear because her son had a history of asthma. Other parents also reached out to her with their concerns.
“We were hearing from a number of different constituencies at that time. I heard from parents concerned about opening school back up too early, and then I also heard from the other side. Those were parents who were very upset that schools were not open. The parents I heard from the most, after those first couple of weeks were really parents with special education needs,” Stewart said.
“A lot of our advocacy in those last couple of months of the 2019-2020 school year was an attempt to get kids with special needs more services and more access to school. Some of them could not access learning remotely,” Stewart added.
Providing Food and Other Services
Another big challenge was getting food to students who rely on their schools to eat breakfast and lunch.
“MCCPTA and other groups partnered with the school system to send home bags of food. There were pickups where families could drive up and get food. We worked with food banks. There was some targeted delivery of food. We really banded together and spent a lot of hours trying to plan how to get families in need their vaccines, masks, and food,” Stewart said.
Mitchell said during the start of the pandemic the PTA did the best it could to communicate with parents and teachers. The organization tried to answer questions, and provide updates as quickly as possible. But overall the situation was very hard.
“It was challenging for the adults in the home because they were trying to do their jobs as best as they could in a new way which was virtually. It was particularly hard for children in kindergarten, first grade and second grade. They were just getting used to school, or had never been to school, and suddenly parents or caregivers are trying to keep them in front of a computer for six hours a day and occupied,” Mitchell said.
“Some students stopped engaging. Some never engaged. We had hundreds of students that never logged on during the pandemic,” Mitchell added.
Lessons Learned
Looking back, Mitchell wishes the school system did more to instruct the teachers how to teach remotely. She said the teachers were stressed. They were experiencing what was going on around them in their homes and in their lives.
“But they still had to teach every day while trying to get these supplemental trainings on how to do this or that. I think more family engagement would have been helpful as well,” Mitchell said.
Remote learning also was a challenge on the college level.
“Once we all got comfortable with remote technology, some students realized they could take more classes because they did not have to travel. Faculty and staff realized they could do some things from home that they might not have expected. There was a culture shift certainly related to remote working and learning,” Williams said.
Covid-19’s Impact on Education Today
Covid-19’s impact on education is still reverberating today. While standardized tests did not take place in the spring of 2020, school systems across Maryland resumed testing in the years afterwards. Student learning in 2021 fell dramatically, but it has slowly rebounded.
Reports show last school year, approximately 33% of students were proficient in math in Montgomery County and about 55% were proficient in English Language Arts. Test scores from the 2018-2019 school year showed on average 50% were proficient in math across all age groups, and 58% in English Language Arts. Stewart said she is still seeing some troubling signs.
“From what I have seen, there were lower test scores this year for incoming kindergarten students. I can’t say for sure it is because of Covid-19. This tells me we need all day preschool now more than ever,” Stewart said.
Other Impacts Besides Learning
The pandemic did not just impact students’ learning. It also affected how some students interacted with one another.
“I think they are bouncing back. I don’t think we’re all the way back. The isolation was so impactful. It was huge for everybody, adults and children alike. That is why we saw a spike in mental health challenges,” Mitchell said.
“But we saw a 38% decrease in fatal overdoses in Maryland last year from substance use. We’ve seen a slight drop in suicides,” Mitchell added.
Mitchell and Stewart say the pandemic taught some important lessons including flexibility. They said while many students struggled to learn virtually, others had success doing it. They said having the Virtual Academy was a big plus for students who flourished learning this way. Both said they are disappointed the Virtual Academy went away this school year, but hope new options will take its place.
Williams said, “The pandemic provided reminders of the power of partnership and community. It is important to invest time in getting to know the students we serve, the people we work with, and the various communities who are our partners.”
“We must continue to look toward the future. Post-secondary education is a special resource that we have in our society. It helps facilitate innovation, intellectual curiosity, and it fuels our workforce and economy.” Williams added.
