Prince George’s County Public Schools announced plans Wednesday to reopen for hybrid learning in April, while Montgomery County Public Schools says the system intends to open back up to students in March.

Prince George’s County Public Schools CEO Monica Goldson announced in a YouTube video that special education students in Kindergarten through 12th grade, along with all high school seniors and students in Pre-K through 6th grade, will start hybrid learning on April 8th. Those students will have the option to attend school in person two days per week and continue distance learning for the other three.

The second phase of hybrid learning begins April 15, when students in grades 7 through 11 will return to school.

Earlier this month, the Montgomery County School Board voted on a plan to reopen schools for hybrid learning on March 1 for special education students and technical programs. The rest of the school system will return to hybrid learning on March 15.

The announcement from Prince George’s County comes after Gov. Larry Hogan doubled down last week on his calls for schools to reopen for some in-person learning starting March 1. Hogan vowed to supply one million COVID-19 tests and personal protective equipment to local school systems.

Goldson says the county school system has been preparing for hybrid learning and monitoring the decline in the county’s positive COVID cases over the past three weeks.

“There has to be a pattern [in increased COVID cases] for us to revert to virtual [learning],” Goldson told DCist/WAMU.

The county currently has a 7.5% positivity rate with fewer than 26 deaths per week since the middle of January, according to county health data.

Prince George’s County schools have also applied for additional PPE from the state and have received a shipment of PPE from Home Depot. Goldson said she intends to have every student and teacher tested for the virus each week to mitigate transmission. So far, Goldson says, approximately 8,500 school employees have asked to get the vaccine prior to returning to the classroom. Educators are currently being vaccinated under the county’s inoculation plan, which began last month.

“By the end of this week we’ll have 5,300 employees that will receive their first dose of the vaccine,” Goldson told DCist. “So our plan will ensure that by the time we reopen staff will have the opportunity to receive both first and second doses.” (Vaccine guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that it can take several weeks for the body to build immunity against COVID-19 after the second dose.)

Theresa Dudley, president of the Prince George’s County Educators’ Association, applauded Goldson’s efforts to get vaccines for employees.

“[Goldson] is putting the safety of our employees first by not rushing us to go back to hybrid or in-person learning on March 1,” Dudley told DCist. “She can clearly see that vaccines are in short supply and that many of our employees who want to get vaccines have not been able to get them.”

But teachers in Montgomery County Schools are pushing back against a March reopening.

Montgomery County Teachers Push Back Against Reopening

The Montgomery County’s teachers’ union expressed concerns over the county board of education’s plan to return students to schools in phases starting March 1. In an emergency meeting Wednesday, union members took a vote of no confidence and called the plan “inadequate” in a statement.

In response to the union’s concerns, Superintendent Jack Smith said he was “perplexed” by the no confidence vote; the county had recently released a joint memorandum of understanding with the union about the terms of its school reopening plan.

“We have worked diligently to ensure thorough mitigation protocols, personal protective equipment, and professional development are in place for staff to make in-person learning as safe as possible,” Smith wrote in a statement also released Wednesday.

Montgomery County schools need at least 9,000 employees to reopen for in-person learning. So far, the county has contracted with Johns Hopkins Hospital to get at least 6,000 employees vaccinated prior to those start dates.

But, Dr. Travis Gayles, the county’s health officer, and Dr. Earl Stoddard, the director of the office of emergency management, are doubtful there will be enough vaccines for every school employee who wants one before March 15.

“It’s a question of numbers,” Gayles said at a Wednesday press conference. “We encourage folks to use as many outlets that are available—that they have access to—to get the vaccine.”

Currently, the county’s health departments are only vaccinating residents 75 years and older in phase 1B of their vaccination plan.

“That next tier does include educators after we move beyond that 75 and older tier,” Stoddard said. “We have every reason to believe that over the next few weeks we’ll be able to move into that tier and add to what the Hopkins partnership is doing already.”

Last month, when Gov. Larry Hogan initially called on school districts to reopen, Acting Deputy Secretary of Health Dr. Jinlene Chan said that reopening for hybrid learning should not be tied to access to vaccines. Hogan also told reporters at a press conference that there is “no public health reason for school boards to keep kids out of school.” If the school boards chose not to comply, Hogan said he would use “every legal avenue at our disposal.”