The COVID-19 virus has been handled differently between countries, states, and counties. In the past couple of weeks, there have been many new plans presented by the Maryland Board of Education as well as some of Maryland’s county’s Superintendents.

Anne Arundel County has recently come out saying that they will start bringing elementary students and middle school ESOL students back. Though they didn’t give a definite date and are still working out the kinks of this plan, it seems as though the people of this county are excited to start going back with the correct safety precautions. The Anne Arundel County Superintendent says that sports will resume on February 1, 2021.

Howard County is taking a more modest approach when it comes to schools reopening. Superintendent Michael Martirano says that Howard County students won’t be going back to school until after the 2020 year is over. When it comes to sports, the board recently just stated that we will not be using the state’s new plan to start sports this fall and that our county will be pushing for a different plan that would have sports beginning on December 7.

Montgomery County seems to be the most strict out of the three. In November, the county officials will begin to reassess the plan for their second semester which starts on January 29th. Superintendent Smith has announced that Montgomery County will not be having fall or winter sports this year.

All of these counties have been updating and reassessing their current plans as cases in their counties increase/decrease, so none of them are 100% set in stone. On top of this, the Maryland Department of Education has a lot of the power to guide districts into what they want for our state’s education and what requirements they have to meet.