FOX 5 EXCLUSIVE: Montgomery County sheds light on public schools' 5% guidance controversy

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. (FOX 5 DC) - In an exclusive interview with FOX 5, the Director of Montgomery County’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Dr. Raymond Crowel, provided more insight behind MCPS’ abrupt decision to change the COVID-19 policy last week, which focused on a 5% COVID-19 positive case metric for guidance.

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Sources tell FOX 5 the policy change came after a meeting between Montgomery County Public Schools, DHHS and the Maryland Department of Health.

To be clear, MCPS makes its own decisions but does consult with DHHS. FOX 5 requested the interview with questions on what type of guidance is being provided and why. 

On Dec. 20, MCPS announced in a statement: "Beginning in January, if 5 percent or more of unrelated students/teachers/staff (minimum of 10 unrelated students/teachers/staff) test positive in a 14-day period, then DHHS and MCPS will work together to determine if the school should be closed for 14 days and the students would transition to virtual learning." 

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: More than half of Montgomery County Public Schools showing COVID-19 'outbreak'

"The state’s definition of a 5% outbreak is an event that occurs in the context of school. So within a school setting, there’s a 5% outbreak with a school. The data that MCPS used, that we were working with, was data that was gathered by parents voluntarily reporting their children’s outbreaks during the school break, so there was no in-school outbreak. It was amongst the students," said Dr. Crowel to FOX 5 on Monday. 

"So it did not meet the state’s definition of an in-school outbreak," Dr. Crowel added, "But from our perspective, and health perspective and MCPS’ perspective, a 5% report of an outbreak in a school population, even though they were on break, meant that there’s a potential for them to bring that spread into the school, for there to be larger spread when the schools come back in, so that fueled the discussion around the 5%. So the decision was, ‘Do you ignore data?’" 

Before this interview, MCPS said in Jan. 7 press release, "These modifications result from clarifications from the state of Maryland on the appropriate use of thresholds for transitioning to virtual learning," and, "The state of Maryland does not currently recommend any automatic trigger or threshold for the suspension of in-person learning. Therefore, MCPS will no longer use a threshold of 5% or more of unrelated students and staff in a school who test positive in a 14-day period to consider a transition to virtual learning. The 11 school communities that are currently engaged in virtual learning will receive more information by Sunday afternoon regarding next steps."

READ MORE: Montgomery County parents, teachers frustrated by COVID spikes, staffing shortages

When asked how long this 5% metric had been used, Dr. Crowel responded, "We started looking at it when it started hitting 5% and up to the Omicron [surge] we were nowhere near that, so really it wasn't a factor in our conversations prior to this latest surge."

Dr. Crowel told FOX 5 DHHS is currently not recommending any more schools go virtual. Crowel did not provide any specific numbers for different metrics parents can now use to weigh whether are too many COVID19 cases in their specific school(s). 

The DHHS director also said their department is still monitoring for when schools hit the 5% threshold. 

"It’s a trigger for us that we need to be paying attention and closer attention to what is going on at that school," said the DHHS director.

MCSP affirmed for FOX 5 via email: "Daily schools are examined for operational readiness and to do that we use The MD guidance you reference below, a long list of operational concerns and consultations with DHHS. For reference, those operational concerns are in part. The number of students testing positive; the number of staff testing positive; the number of students in quarantine; the number of staff at the school who are out due to COVID-related absences; and the level of spread of the virus in the school and community."

Frustrations over MCPS not explaining "why" it’s making certain decisions is part of what led to around 3,000 people to participate in a Sunday "emergency" virtual community forum hosted by County Councilmember Tom Hucker. 

READ MORE: Montgomery County parents speak out on district's handling of COVID-19 at town hall

The MCCPTA President on Friday also released a letter outlining 10 items they want MCPS to address. The first item on that list: "Clarity on who is making decisions."

When asked where "14-days" came from when the school system announced 11 schools would close for 14 days, Crowel told FOX 5, "that’s the extreme longer term of this. So -- that guidance has now been changed to 10 days in most cases for quarantine." 

"Our primary health guidance is provided by the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services. There are a number of medical professionals who do participate and provide helpful information as part of the COVID-19 Advisory Team," MCPS spokesperson Chris Cram told FOX 5 in a statement.

Crowel told FOX 5 MCPS and DHHS are talking are almost on a daily basis.

MCPS and DHHS as asking all students to take and submit their rapid tests results, whether positive or negative, by Friday, January 14th, so that MCPS can get a better idea of COVID spread within MCPS’ over 200 schools. 

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MCPS is also planning a virtual community forum from 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, January 12th. Register to participate here. MCPS says questions can be submitted here.