On the recordAugust 5, 2020
I thank my colleague from New Hampshire, Senator Hassan, for the important points she made about what is happening in New Hampshire. In listening to her, I think each of us could say that that holds true for our State. Certainly, what she says holds true in my State of Maryland. In Maryland, we are just weeks away from the opening day of school. In other parts of the country, schools have already reopened. I think all of us can remember back to when we were going back to school during our K-12 years. We had a mix of excitement and anxiety. And those of us who are parents with children shared the excitement and anxiety of our children as they went off to school. This year, we are facing a sense of emotions and realities that none of us has ever experienced before. I think all of us agree that we would like all students to be able to return to actual classrooms as soon as safely possible. I hope we would all also agree that we want to make sure that in returning, we don't put at risk those children, students, teachers, or others in the school community. We all agree that in-classroom instruction provides the best learning environment for students, but we should also agree that students should not be returning to classrooms if it will put them at greater risk to their lives or their health or the health or lives of their teachers or others in the school community.…
