Montgomery County Public Schools — Maryland's largest school district — lifted its masking requirement during a school board meeting Tuesday. In Maryland, local school districts can choose whether to keep a masking requirement intact.
As all school board members raised their hands to vote in favor of dropping the mask requirement, a parent in the audience quietly cheered, “Yes!”Montgomery, Maryland’s largest school system, was one of the few in the state to keep a masking requirement intact. A majority of Maryland’s school districts made masks optional in recent weeks, after the State Board of Education lifted its statewide regulation and shifted control back to local school systems.
Board member Lynne Harris turned to the audience at the end of public testimony and told them she was “incredibly disappointed” with how they acted during the public comment session. “We’re not going to be lectured to by someone who has abused our students for two years,” one audience member called out to Harris. “Justice is coming.”In the past month, the Montgomery County Board of Education condemned online harassment that targeted the student member of the board, Hana O’Looney. The board wrote that individuals online were using “vile language and personal attacks” that were “clearly harmful attempts at cyberbullying.