Harford County Public Schools Board of Education passed a motion Monday night to indefinitely postpone a decision on the school system implementing virtual instruction after they’ve exhausted all the embedded inclement weather days.

The proposed virtual learning plan could have cost the school system $200,000 due to the purchase of internet hot spots for students who lack home internet access. At least four hours of the virtual learning days would be teachers giving live, real-time instruction via Microsoft Teams.

“We brought this forward because there was support in the community for reducing the number of days that we have to go through the summer …,” said Harford County Public Schools Chief of Staff, Katie Ridgway. “During the development of this particular process, we did our best to do our due diligence to explore and plan for this opportunity to support that sentiment of ending school earlier in the summer.”

Alternatives to hot spots were explored, according to Ridgway, like providing cellphones to students, which would be more expensive. An alternative that would reach their students in a “meaningful way” has not been found, she said.

Besides costs, another issue that arose included the time the school system would need to implement the plan, such as preparing staff and families throughout professional development days and hosting practice days to ensure families are comfortable with the technology.

“If we did move forward with this plan, there would be a significant effort put forth to be prepared for the plan that we may or may not use,” said Ridgway.

Elected board member Carol Mueller suggested the board look into possible grant funding that would cover the costs of some hot spots for students so they could complete homework and other material.

“Life is a lot more difficult if you can’t use the internet at home,” Mueller said. “I think that would be a worthwhile cause, but I do not think at this point we’re ready to look at synchronous learning.”

Board President Aaron Poynton doesn’t see this plan coming up again this year, unless under extraordinary circumstances.

“We could certainly bring it up next year, because if we don’t do it now, we’re not going to have time to implement anything before we get to the season,” he said.

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