SALISBURY, Md. - Educators in Dorchester County are being told to report to classrooms on Tuesday, February 2nd.
Students will return a week later on February 9th. The Dorchester Board of Education says teachers must return to the classroom or they will not get paid. For many teachers, they're excited to return to the classroom, but for others, there is more to it, says Dorchester Educators representative Katie Holbrook.
"As I explained to the superintendent, this is not staff that don't want to go into buildings. This is not staff not arguing they don't want to work. This is staff saying, 'I don't have anything to do with my children, nor can I provide education to other children as well as my own children if I have to report and seperate from them'," Holbrook explains.
On January 21st, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, along with health officials, set a deadline for school districts to reopen classrooms by March 1st.
"There is no public health reason that county school boards to keep students out of schools. This really isn't controversial. The science is clear," Governor Hogan said while holding a press conference at a school gym.
In an email obtained by WBOC, a member of the Dorchester County Board of Education tells a teacher the district is "unable to approve any further requests for temporary teleworking." Holbrook claims this stems from an "ill conceived notion that because we are working from home -- we are not providing appropriate education or education at all."
The same teacher sent a follow-up email asking if their children can accompany them to school. The teacher was given the option to return to the classroom or take unpaid leave in Dorchester County.
Holbrook reiterates that teachers want to report, but for those who cannot, "accommodations should be made".
