![]() Initially, the school system rolled out a color-coded system for tracking individual schools’ COVID-19 rates to be used to guide when schools transition to virtual learning before abandoning the plan on Friday. School system leaders have faced a barrage of criticism over the at-times chaotic-seeming return to classes following winter break. That is not something we would do under normal circumstances. He added, “We can cover up some of the worst of the issues, but - we’re asking the National Guard to provide bus drivers. But we are going to have a very tough next three to four weeks minimally.” There’s a triage going on to figure out exactly what we can stop doing to be able to support something that’s an important service. There’s no Band-Aiding them with one service into another. “There are massive impacts that are going to be felt by omicron,” he said. Stoddard told council members the extremely high rates of infection associated with omicron are taking a toll on county services across the board. Larry Hogan has already pressed the National Guard, which previously assisted with the state’s vaccination efforts, into helping stand up and staff new COVID-19 testing sites across the state. Stoddard said the school system’s leaders asked for the county to request the National Guard’s help with the bus driver shortage. “My understanding is that the National Guard may not be able to help,” Stoddard said, but that the request has been circulated to neighboring counties through a compact of county emergency management agencies that may be able to offer help. The county filed a request with the National Guard to cover the school system’s transportation needs, Assistant Chief Administrative Officer Earl Stoddard told members of the county council during a briefing Tuesday. ![]() Since last week, the school system has canceled dozens of daily bus routes because of a driver shortage. The county is seeing a surge in coronavirus cases driven by the omicron variant, which has led to an astronomical rise in cases and record hospitalizations and led school officials to shift nearly a dozen schools to virtual learning. ![]() Officials in Montgomery County, Maryland, have formally requested the Maryland National Guard to act as bus drivers, as the state’s largest school system deals with major shortages that have disrupted the return of students from the winter break. Business & Finance Click to expand menu.
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