With COVID-19 cases surging, Montgomery County Board of Health has voted to move schools to all virtual learning for two weeks. Despite the disagreement from the angry parents, the board of health voted unanimously on Nov. 13 shifting all schools to 100% virtual learning between Nov. 23 and Dec. 6.
Parents are unhappy with the decision.
“Helpless, devastated, and hopeless,” said Denise Stasuk, a mother of four. “So it’s kind of was like a false hope that they were leading us to believe that they had a plan.”
“We were very frustrated,” Micheal Posella, a father of two.
Clarice Schillinger, a mother of two, has already lost her trust in the board of health.
“This is a two week mandated shutdown from Montgomery County that expires, December 7, But that has not been the case for the majority of public schools in Montgomery County. We’ve in fact been shut down since March. So that’s nine months of school closure.”
Several parents say it is hard to balance their work and watching over their children’s virtual learning.
“It gave us a lot of anxiety to try to figure out what we’re going to do with our kids. I mean they can’t stay home by themselves, or not at that age yet,” said Posella.
“I normally worked like for you know 40-hours, 50-hour workweek. And so, you know, the income into our house is has dropped while I’m paying for tutors, you know, and, and people to help,” said Schillinger.
Schillinger also said schools are more than learning space, they are a safe haven for children.
“The child abuse ratings have dropped so low because teachers aren’t seeing their kids demand to report these abuses right children go to school for food, they go to school for heat.”
But some parents say it is a lot safer to attend school at home.
“We were upset that it’s a petri dish and it’s definitely safer to be home and it’s a tough balance like Lisa said it’s hard to do the day you get saturated from all the computer work,” said Larry Golden, a father and a resident of Montgomery County.
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