Some Anxiety As Many Students Prepare For Return To Classrooms

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — It’s backmost to schoolhouse this week for galore students successful the Baltimore area. While astir are excited to caput backmost to class, immoderate are tense arsenic the COVID-19 pandemic lingers on.

Dozens of students got immoderate last-minute schoolhouse supplies Sunday astatine backpack giveaways successful West Baltimore and Owings Mills. It’s a infinitesimal parents and students alike person been looking guardant to, but immoderate are inactive anxious astir a instrumentality to people amid the pandemic, with caller lawsuit counts inactive averaging astir 1,000 a time successful Maryland.

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“I’m truly tense that they’ll extremity up doing virtual (learning) again,” said genitor Ieishia Henriques. “I don’t spot however agelong this is going to past but truthful far, I mean, you know, it’s worthy a try.”

Masks are required successful astir of the state’s 24 nationalist schoolhouse systems, including successful Baltimore City and Baltimore and Howard counties. That’s successful enactment with the latest guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s an enactment galore districts person taken to effort to safely reopen schools and fto students acquisition immoderate long-awaited normalcy.

“More kids enactment amended successful the situation with different kids than being successful the house, truthful if it makes it amended for them past I’m for it,” said genitor Lunnell Wynn. “My kids are vaccinated, truthful I consciousness beauteous good.”

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While the authorities committee of acquisition this past week voted to o.k. an exigency regulation mandating masks successful nationalist schoolhouse buildings, that regularisation inactive needs to beryllium voted connected by a General Assembly panel.

For now, galore parents said they are hoping that their kids tin enactment successful schoolhouse and enactment healthy.

“Health and information is perfectly fig one,” said genitor Lisa Lee. “But we’re pushing and praying we don’t person to home-school.”

Some districts, including Harford, Anne Arundel and Carroll counties, don’t commencement schoolhouse until Sept. 8, the time aft Labor Day. Unless and until the statewide mandate is approved, masks volition stay optional successful Carroll County.

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The General Assembly sheet is acceptable to ballot Sept. 14.

Stetson Miller