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Some Montgomery County parents have had it with in person learning waiting lists
Some parents in Montgomery County are expressing their frustrations as their kids sit on waiting lists for in-person learning.
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. - FOX 5 continues to push for answers from local school districts about why hundreds of students are still on lists waiting to get back to in-person learning with just one month left before the school year ends.
In Montgomery County for example, more than 300 Montgomery County Public Schools students still remain on a waitlist.
READ MORE: Montgomery County families question omitted content from virtual curriculum
While that is significantly down from 1,200 from last month and even 600 at the beginning of May, some parents told Fox 5’s Ayesha Khan on Wednesday, that 376 doesn’t sound like a lot of remaining kids to be able to bring back for in person learning while there is still some time left before school ends.
One of the parents is Ryan Chaney who has been trying to get his son off of the wait list at Potomac Elementary School since we spoke with him back in April.
"The only update we have received is that it will be too disturbing for the students that are already in school and in the county to take off the waiting list and therefore it’s not something that they’re going to be doing at this time," said Chaney.
The majority of the students waiting to be back for in-person learning are in elementary schools, at 204. 109 students in middle school and 63 in high school.
Many families have criticized the school board’s decision back in April to not alter its physical distancing requirements in classrooms from 6 feet to 3 feet even after the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced it was ok to do so.
They argue that such a change, would have allowed space to accommodate more students and reduce the waiting lists.
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In a statement to Fox 5, MCPS spokeswoman Gboyinde Onijala explained:
"MCPS has made significant progress in clearing waitlists over the last two months and schools continue to work as quickly as possible to bring students from the waitlist to in-person instruction. As district leaders shared during last night’s Board of Education meeting, a school’s ability to move students off the waitlist is impacted by a number of factors including the total number of students currently participating in in-person learning, available space in each school, staffing, etc. Schools are using more flexible spacing guidelines in their buildings when possible but the overall 6foot physical distancing guidelines remain in place in our district to ensure the safety of our students and staff."
"What are you patting yourselves on the back for?" asked Chaney.
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Montgomery County schools in person waiting list causing frustrations
More than 300 students are still on a waiting list for in-person learning in Montgomery County – and frustrations are mounting for some parents.
"Everything I see is about how good of a job you’re doing. I pass school busses with my child every day and he’s asking me why he’s not on one of them?"
Ayesha also checked in with several other area school districts that had wait lists.
The Arlington Public School system is down to 125 kids from 400 in April who are waiting to return to in person learning.
Fairfax County Public schools reported that each school handles a wait list if there is one, individually but spokeswoman, Lucy Caldwell added that all secondary school level students who wanted to be in-person, are back in the classroom.