Montgomery County Public Schools has almost filled all teaching positions for summer school, the administration announced during their Board of Education meeting on Tuesday.
Currently, about 52,500 students will be attending summer school, which is the most the school district has ever had, said Assistant Superintendent Niki Hazel. Some of the students have opted to participate virtually.
The central high school academic program, which offers students classes for grade replacement, improvement or in some instances, original credit, began June 28. About 5,700 students have enrolled in this program.
The other summer school offerings will start the following week.
“For almost all of our programs, we are actually at 95, 96%” staffing, Hazel said. At the high school program, teaching and support staff is 98% filled, she said. The virtual kindergarten through eighth grade program is staffed at 88% and the in-school program for those grades is at 85%, she said, noting that each day the number of filled positions increases.
Teachers are being paid a $200 a week bonus to teach summer school, an increase that was done to help with recruitment.
Due to changing recommendations by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and guidelines from Montgomery County, students must wear masks inside buildings and on school buses. Masks are optional but recommended when outdoors. This would change if the county updates its requirements, explained Acting Superintendent Monifa McKnight.
McKnight said her the 2021-2022 school year will be “an experience that is absolutely better than it was prior to the pandemic.” A rigorous academic program “will and must continue to be the priority,” she told members of the Board of Education.
Related Post
Many Teachers ‘Burned Out,’ Reluctant to Teach Summer School
