With COVID testing positivity results decreasing and hospitalization rates on the decline, it looks like the omicron surge has finally crested in Maryland. Hopeful that the worst is behind us, Marylanders are once again daring to look forward to life after pandemic.
Parents and students in particular are eagerly envisioning a return to normal after the turmoil of the last three school years has resulted in so much academic setback, lost opportunities, and the erosion of so many families’ dreams and hopes for their children’s early years and adolescence.
We must keep in mind, however, that a successful recovery for our schools is far from assured.
The pandemic has not only highlighted and worsened the systemic ways in which our pre-pandemic school systems did not work for so many students and their families — students from low-income families, students with special needs, racial and ethnic minorities and English-language learners, students in rural areas, and others — it has also weakened the foundations of our public education system in significant ways.
Because of this foundational damage, the full recovery and restoration of our schools may prove to be as difficult a task as any we’ve faced throughout these pandemic years.
