December 20, 2021
Baltimore City Public Schools continues to keep a close eye on the impact of COVID-19 in our community, specifically with the new Omicron variant. As we continue to monitor this new variant, we are committed to taking steps recommended by health experts to keep our schools safe for in-person learning.
At this moment, we will continue to host classes in person immediately after Winter Break with no current plans to transition to full-scale virtual learning district-wide. However, City Schools will monitor health conditions and update you if changes are required.
Given that, we remain committed to putting the health and safety measures in place to make in-person learning as safe as possible for our staff and our young people. Our robust health and safety procedures that include a nationally-recognized in-school COVID-19 testing program. As a result, the impact of COVID-19 in our schools is much less than the community-at-large. We also are taking the following steps to keep everyone safe:
- Masks are required indoors at all schools and offices.
- We have upgraded air filters at schools or added air purifiers where needed.
- Unlike other school districts, we test students and staff weekly for COVID-19, both in pools and rapid individual tests. We will continue our normal pace of testing when students and staff return in January.
- Staff members must be vaccinated, and we are increasing the number of our free booster shot clinics for our employees.
- City Schools is working to improve our comprehensive COVID-19 testing program, including increased access to rapid testing.
- We are suspending all athletic competitions and practices during the Winter Break to reduce exposure to COVID-19.
We encourage unvaccinated students, staff, and families to visit school-based vaccine and booster clinics we host in partnership with the Baltimore City Health Department. Experts state that the COVID-19 vaccination and booster shot are the best way to slow the spread of COVID-19. We will continue to provide updates on these vaccine clinics via baltimorecityschools.org, and our channels on Facebook and Twitter.