The county health czar in Maryland’s Montgomery County has withdrawn his blanket ban on in-person schooling for nonpublic schools, handing a major victory to parents and religious communities in the Washington suburb. Gov. Larry Hogan had repeatedly pushed back on the blanket bans, and on Friday afternoon, among improving numbers in the county and the state, the county health office seemed to surrender.
“County Health Officer Dr. Travis Gayles today announced that he has rescinded his health order that prohibited nonpublic schools from opening for in-person instruction until after Oct. 1, 2020,” the county stated in a press release. “The decision was made due to the new policy announced yesterday by the State Department of Health prohibiting the blanket closure of nonpublic schools.”
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Gayles had issued his first ban during a Friday night news dump on July 31, citing the state of emergency declaration issued by Hogan. After a weekend of uproar from parents, school heads, and teachers at private and religious schools, Hogan modified his emergency declaration to nullify Gayles’s.
On Wednesday night, despite five days of dropping positivity rates and case numbers, Gayles returned fire, issuing a new order citing state law granting broad authority to counties in fighting infectious diseases.
Gayles’s legal and scientific grounding was extremely wobbly, and a challenge by independent Catholic schools and school parents was scheduled for Aug. 14.
Hogan’s health office responded to Gayles’s second order with a memorandum saying blanket bans conflict with state policy. “The State of Maryland’s position is that all schools, including public school systems and non-public schools, be provided with the individualized opportunity to determine how they are able to” safely reopen.
Some private schools are electing not to open for in-person schooling. The county’s public school system already decided not to open for in-person schooling in the fall.
Gayles’s retreat came just hours after New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that New York State schools were free to open for in-person learning.
