Maryland’s public school superintendents are demanding more guidance from the state’s Department of Education as students prepare to begin school online this month because of the pandemic.

Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Jack Smith, Baltimore City Public Schools CEO Sonja Santelises, and Talbot County Public Schools Superintendent Kelly Griffith shared their concerns about starting the school year during a roundtable discussion with Democratic Senate lawmakers Thursday. They accused the department of not having a sufficient plan in place for gauging when to return to in-person instruction, administering rapid universal testing for school employees, or purchasing personal protective equipment for students and staff.

In June, State Superintendent of Schools Karen Salmon released a recovery plan for schools that provided some guidelines for districts on establishing their own protocols. The guidelines included requiring all school systems to follow CDC guidelines like hand washing and wearing face coverings; adhering to state health officials’ outbreak protocols for contact tracing and quarantining; and following benchmarks like safe transportation for students and a system to track attendance.

However, Smith and other superintendents say those guidelines aren’t specific enough.

“It’s critical that the Maryland State Department of Education, and especially the Maryland Health Department, come together to establish metrics that are rational, thoughtful and that school systems can gauge what’s going to happen next,” Smith said.

According to Smith, Montgomery County public health officer Dr. Travis Gayles is looking at community spread and the percentage of people tested for the virus to assist public schools in decision making. But Smith said those measures should also apply to the rest of the state’s public schools.

Griffith, who also serves as president of the Public School Superintendents’ Association of Maryland, agreed with Smith.

“We’re educators, we’re not health experts,” Griffith said. “We really need our health experts to guide us in making these decisions.”

Superintendents are relying on consistent health data to determine if some or all of the students can return to in-person learning. Smith said. “At this time we don’t have that consistency.”

In response to superintendents Thursday, a spokesperson with the state’s DOE wrote in an email to WAMU/DCist that “statewide guidance does exist,” and that its guidelines give specific instructions on how each local school system should reopen.

But superintendents worry reopening may not be a possibility without certain statewide actions.

Santelises said that she would like the state to establish rapid testing when in-person instruction does begin for school employees. During summer in-person instruction with 300 to 400 students in small groups, the Baltimore schools CEO said she thought one of her employees contracted the virus. Santelises estimated it took 10 to 12 days to learn the employee did not have COVID-19.

“If we could shrink that window, the ability to keep learning intact and in-person is much easier than to just shut everything down for two weeks,” Santelises said.

When students eventually return to school in small groups, school leaders also want to know how much PPE they need to keep schools safe.

“Don’t tell me to follow [Centers For Disease Control and Prevention] guidelines, don’t tell me to make it up or work with my county health department, but let’s look at what is a standard for the school environment.” Smith said.

The school leaders also say budget cuts prompted by the economic recession could prevent school districts from affording a sustainable supply of PPE.

She said she received $880,000 more from the state this year for PPE, technology and other resources, but said it’s only a temporary solution.

“We don’t know how long this is going to last,” Griffith said. “I’m concerned about sustainability.”

To acquire PPE, each district has had to enter contracts with companies on their own. Senate President Bill Ferguson told the superintendents he thought that was problematic.

“Montgomery County is theoretically bidding against Prince George’s County … for the same masks if there’s not a statewide [contract],” Ferguson said.

The Department of Education said it is reviewing each school district’s plan for reopening and will be providing updates to districts after the review is complete.