Maryland parents choose homeschooling, call decline of public school system 'scary'

Maryland parents said Monday they've chosen to homeschool their children over concerns surrounding the curriculum and COVID-related policies as schools lower the bar for teachers to combat the shortage. 

George and Michelle Sullivan joined "Fox & Friends First" to discuss how they made the decision to pull their children from the school system in Prince George's County and why they are fighting for other families who do not have that option. 

"I feel like we had to give our children an environment that they could not have to wear masks all day to wear," Michelle told co-host Carley Shimkus. "We had the freedom to choose which curriculum that they were going to be using. We've been able to fill in that gap that they lost during the COVID pandemic, but it really has hurt children." 

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"I was able to patch them up in their math and English because I was able to hone in directly on what my kids needed," she continued. "And I know that that's not really an option for everybody at this point, so that's why we're still trying to fight for the families who feel like they don't have voices."

The Kirwan Plan allocated $4 billion to Maryland public schools, but critics say the system has resorted to hiring thousands of teachers that do not have proper certification.

George called the move "worrisome."

"My wife and I just saw the decline of the school system, and it wasn't even just the public school system, it was the private school system that was even scarier," George said. "It was overflowing into that. So we just made the decision to pull the kids and to quit her job and to just rely on our small business at our as our single source of income to survive, and we made it work."

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Amid the concern surrounding under-qualified teachers, they also shared their concern over Prince George's County Schools' renewed mask mandate. 

The pair said they worried speaking out publicly could affect their business, but despite the concern, they remain committed to speaking up. 

"We just kind of prayed on it, and we kind of looked each other and talked about it, and we said, we're not doing this for our kids," George said. "Our kids are out of the school system. We're doing it for the kids that don't have a voice, that don't have a say, that are scared to have to fight."