Distance requirements for schools eased

Parents, staff, health officials will need to weigh in on state’s guidance

New York state on Friday eased reopening restrictions on schools to allow most students to sit closer together as long as they continue to wear masks.

But before they can make any changes, school districts will have to allow parents, school staff and local health officials to weigh in, under guidance released by the state Department

of Health. The revised guidelines allow for at least 3 feet of distance between students in elementary, middle and high school classrooms in counties with a low or moderate risk of transmission.

“Ultimately, the school/district’s decision to move to shorter physical distances will come down to a local community’s risk tolerance based on its unique circumstances,” the 24page document released late Friday said.

The distancing change, which follows federal CDC guidance, is expected to allow schools to bring more students back to buildings and reduce their reliance on distance learning that has most students participating from home for at least part of the week.

President Joe Biden has made it a priority to fully reopen K-8 schools by the end of April, but superintendents in New York have been frustrated by the state’s delay in acting on federal guidance issued last month that says students wearing masks can safely sit just 3 feet, rather than 6 feet, apart in the classroom.

In counties where infection rates are high, middle and high schools should still aim for 6 feet of distancing unless they can maintain “cohorting,” where groups of students re

main together through the day.

About 18 percent of New York public school fourth-graders had access to full-time, inperson instruction in February, while 80 percent were offered a hybrid mix of in-person and remote learning, according to a Biden administration survey.

The new distancing guidelines came in from the state Health Department late Friday as the Capital Region’s schools were finishing up their spring break.

Rensselaer City School District Joseph Kardash said the district’s school opening committee will begin its review of the state materials Monday and anticipates it will take a week to come up with plans for applying it to the district’s schools.

“We got it (Friday) night. We need to analyze it and figure it out,” Kardash said Saturday.

A significant change is the decrease in distance between students to 6 feet from 12 feet in music and physical education classes, Kardash said.

The most difficult aspect will be determining the impact of having 3 feet of social distance between students when they’re eating lunch without masks. The district’s seventh through 12th graders currently eat lunch in their classrooms.

A Troy City School District spokeswoman said the district received it Friday night and anticipates having more information after the Questar III BOCES superintendents meet Monday morning to state the new social distancing guidelines.

The Hoosick Falls Central School District had advised its residents on April 2, the last day of school before the spring break, that since the state had issued no new guidance, it could not bring students back to school and would remain using it hybrid instruction model. There weren’t any updates posted as of Saturday afternoon.

On Saturday, in response to the new guidance, the state’s largest teachers union reiterated its stance that the best place for students to learn is in-person in the classroom with reopening happening in the safest possible environment.

“In adopting new physical distancing guidelines ... the state is making it crystal clear that distancing is only one part of a layered mitigation strategy,” according to the NYSUT statement. “These revised guidelines not only draw distinctions between when it’s appropriate to have three feet of distancing and when six feet of distancing is still necessary, they also mandate masks at all times and lay out specific ventilation recommendations while maintaining important provisions for cleaning, hygiene and contact tracing.”

Nationwide, nearly 46 percent of public schools offered five days a week of in-person learning to all students, according to the survey, but just 34 percent of students were learning full time in the classroom. The gap was most pronounced among older K-12 students, with just 29 percent of eighth graders getting five days a week of learning at school.