Schools weigh closing the gap
er will increase the risk for everyone in the classroom. It also poses a problem for districts that have agreed to contracts with teachers adopting the 6-foot rule as a requirement.
“They can’t just throw 6 feet out the window. They can’t throw away what has been agreed upon,” said Merrie Najimy, president of the union. “If they can’t make it work, then they’re going to have to come to a new agreement.”
Public schools in Worcester are among those pushing back against the closer spacing. Tracy O’connell Novick, a member of the district school committee, said switching to the 3-feet standard would be “betting the health” of thousands of students and staff.
In Boston’s public schools, desks will be spaced at least 3 feet apart, but teachers and staff will be asked to keep 6 feet from students and other staff when feasible, district spokesperson Xavier Andrews said. Schools will also use larger rooms and outdoor spaces to keep students at a safe distance, he said.
In some states that already allow 3-feet spacing, schools say they have seen no evidence of increased risk. School officials in Danville, Ind., which moved to 3 feet in October, said students have been in the classroom all year with no uptick in virus transmission.
“It’s gone very well for us. I won’t say there has been no transmission, but it’s been staggeringly low — like one time or something like that,” said Tim Mcroberts, vice president of the school board. “We’ve kept our doors open. We’ve had no temporary shutdowns.”
In Ohio, Cincinnati’s school board got an earful from parents and others last month when it proposed resuming in-person learning at the crowded Walnut Hills High School under a model that called for distancing of only 3 feet there while its other schools would use 6 feet.
The critics included Walnut Hills teacher Brandon Keller, who said the plan was dangerous. He warned the board that their decision “will have a body count.”
Board members backed off on reopening that school, then weeks later narrowly voted for a plan that included a phased reopening, but they also warned that the physical distancing might be less than 6 feet.
Students also have options to continue learning virtually.
Seven superintendents in central Oregon sent a letter to Gov. Kate Brown last week asking the state to relax some of its social distancing rules — including the 6-foot barrier — so that more students can return to class full time.
Oregon’s Crook County School District, which has had students in classrooms most of the school year, has found that masks, contact tracing and sending students home when they show symptoms are the most effective means of combating the virus.
“The 6-feet rule doesn’t make as much sense as the other safety measures,” district spokesperson Jason Carr said. “What may have made sense two months ago or at the beginning of the year might not now.”