Montgomery and Prince George’s County school superintendents say they need more guidance from the state before they’re able to reopen schools for hybrid in-person learning in January.

Prince George’s Public Schools CEO Monica Goldson and Montgomery County Public Schools CEO Jack Smith say they’ve installed new ventilation systems, purchased protective gear, and have plans to keep students socially distant.

But they told a panel of state Senate lawmakers Wednesday that they need guidance from the Maryland State Department of Education on what constitutes a COVID-19 outbreak. They also asked for more information on how to immunize students when a vaccine is ready and how to deal with decreased funding and lower student enrollment.

Goldson, whose county has been hardest hit by the coronavirus in Maryland, says Prince George’s is still in stage 2 of reopening, which doesn’t include reopening public schools.

“Health and safety is paramount,” Goldson said. “We do have a plan of what we will do in phase 3… but we keep getting stuck with the number of COVID-19 cases in the county.”

Goldson said Prince George’s would like to see some guidance from the state on what would be considered a COVID-19 outbreak and what protocols should be in place. The county is also waiting for the state education department to release a COVID-19 dashboard that will help identify case numbers and infection rates for each school district.

“It would be good to have some uniform system from the state to determine why schools would have to be closed in terms of outbreaks,” Dr. Travis Gayles, Montgomery County’s top health officer, told lawmakers. He also mentioned he hadn’t met with the Montgomery County School Board to develop a plan for returning students to school buildings.

Sen. Clarence Lam (D-Baltimore and Howard counties) told superintendents that because a COVID-19 vaccine is being worked on and the state has released a vaccination plan, schools should be included in the distribution of a vaccine.

“There have not been initial plans shared with us,” Smith said. “We absolutely agree with you, Sen. Lam, that we need to be talking about these things right now. For example, are school district employees essential employees?”

One of the other big concerns was a drop in enrollment for all school systems across the state due to the pandemic. “We’re worried it could affect our funds for the next year,” Goldson said.

Smith told lawmakers that in order to make up for the funding lost due to the drop in enrollment, the state may have to provide more money.

Senate lawmakers, including Prince George’s County Democratic Sen. Paul Pinsky, say they’re looking to see how the Maryland State Department of Education can provide more guidance for school systems trying to reopen schools amid the ongoing pandemic.

“There’s been little statewide coordination,” Pinsky told fellow lawmakers. “There have been no statewide steps in how to reopen in our jurisdictions’ [schools].”

In August, just a few days before the start of the school year, Gov. Larry Hogan and State Superintendent Karen Salmon announced that schools could return to in-person learning, Pinsky said, “without any protocols or procedures in place to deal with a COVID-19 outbreak.”

A few weeks ago, lawmakers say the state education department allowed school sports to resume without a plan for outbreaks or contact tracing.

The education department responded to DCist’s request for comment by pointing to a 16-page report with guidance for schools which was released in August. However, the report only mentions the word “outbreaks” once and says the Maryland Department of Health “recommends schools provide regular updates to students’ parents and guardians on the school’s COVID-19 status and inform students, parents and guardians, and staff in a timely fashion about COVID-19 cases and outbreaks in the school while following federal and state confidentiality laws.”

The report goes on to say how long students and teachers should wait to go back to the classroom after testing positive. An additional document provided to DCist by health and education departments shares guidance on how a school should respond to confirmed cases of COVID-19 based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.