Howard County Public School System (HCPSS) announced plans to leverage advances in virtual learning for the 2020-21 school year during closures for inclement weather.

HCPSS officials announced that while in virtual, small group, or hybrid learning models, schools will use fully virtual learning when schools are closed for inclement weather. This move will allow the school system to make earlier decisions on whether to close schools, giving families longer to lead times to make arrangements. The Maryland State Department of Education has approved the inclusion of virtual instruction days and therefore these days will not need to be made up at the end of the school year.

From HCPSS website:

Four possible inclement weather decisions are provided below. For the 2020-2021 school year, there no longer will be an option for a 2-hour delay. Instead, HCPSS will transition to virtual learning on those days.

On inclement weather days that virtual instruction is implemented, the same virtual schedule will be implemented that has been in place for the entirety of the 2020-2021 school year. Students will be expected to log in to each of their classes and attendance will be recorded. To provide consistency and remain aligned to current virtual instructional schedules, instruction will be synchronous on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and asynchronous on Wednesday.

See more information on HCPSS’s website.

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