Letter From the Interim Superintendent of Schools
Dear Parents, Guardians, Students, and Staff:
I am pleased to share the Montgomery County Public Schools’ Fall 2022 Reopening Guide. This guide provides a comprehensive update on the district’s return to in-person instruction, five days per week for all students. The guide also summarizes the district’s current COVID-19 operational guidance determined in collaboration with state and local health officials.
This guidance aligns with my three priorities, which have driven our successful start to the 2022-2023 school year:
- Building and rebuilding trust with students, staff and community
- Supporting mental health and well-being for all students and staff, and
- Returning the district’s focus to equitable teaching and learning.
Each decision we make about how we are working to support an environment that is successful in providing excellent teaching and learning must reflect these goals. Through this work, we will advance our students in their academic careers, ensuring a brighter future for our community.
All schools have opened at full capacity for in-person instruction with a teacher in every classroom, a visionary administrator leading every school and support staff providing critical wraparound services and support for our students and communities. Schools are following usual bell times, class schedules, and extracurricular activities. At the release of my recommended operating budget on December 19, 2022, everywhere I go, I hear and see how better this school year feels -- with students getting involved, reengaging in their school community, and embracing school as a home.
Considering that the COVID-19 virus is still impacting our community, we must remain vigilant as we continue in-person instruction. Core health strategies such as staying home when sick, ventilation/indoor air quality enhancements, and layered mitigation strategies to prevent transmission, remain essential in fighting COVID as well as other respiratory infections.
We are faced with a time of great opportunity for our school system, inspired by what we learned during the pandemic and stronger because of the resiliency that sustained us through its tumult. We must, however, continue to recapture a sense of normalcy in support of our schools, students and staff.
I have appreciated the "all together now" spirit through which our community has banded together to ensure our students receive high-quality instruction and supports this school year and beyond.
In partnership,
Monifa B. McKnight, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools