California adopts 3-foot-spacing rule for classrooms, changing reopening equation
LOS ANGELES – Students in California are now allowed to sit 3 feet apart in classrooms – instead of 4 or 6 feet – in guidelines state officials issued Saturday, a major change in policy that will exert pressure on local officials for a faster and more complete reopening of campuses that have been closed for over a year in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Local education leaders will have the final say – and Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Austin Beutner said Sunday that L.A. schools would stick with the 6-foot rule.
Still, the ground has shifted rapidly since the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday announced its endorsement of a 3-foot rule for elementary schools. The agency also OK’d 3-foot desk spacing on campuses with older students, but there are substantial caveats, including the rate of coronavirus cases in the community.
It took only one day for the state of California to follow suit. L.A. County health officials have yet to formally announce their own rules – which may be more strict than the state’s – but Paul Simon, chief science officer for the Los Angeles County Public Health Department, said Friday he was “fairly confident that we will incorporate that CDC guidance into our own guidance for schools.”
How soon the new state standard will come into use seems likely to vary from place to place. Some schools and districts have chafed at restrictive measures and are almost certain to embrace the revised rules immediately. But many school systems also have approved agreements with their teachers unions that stipulate a 6-foot desk separation. These districts include Los Angeles Unified, the nation’s second-largest school system.
Beutner said Sunday morning: “The recent CDC guidance will not change our current reopening plans.
“Our challenge is convincing families that schools are safe, not finding ways to stuff more kids into classrooms.”
Early survey results released earlier this month indicated that about half of students would be returning when campuses began to reopen in mid-April. Families were most reluctant in communities that had been hardest hit by the pandemic. Beutner has tried to reassure them that L.A. schools will enforce nation-leading safety protocols. That effort will include an online “town hall” on Sunday. (Participants must register in advance.)
United Teachers Los Angeles ratified last week’s return-to-campus agreement on Sunday night.On Friday, union leaders quickly and sharply criticized the revised CDC guidelines, saying they would potentially endanger students, their families and staff by making virus transmission more likely.
The new 3-foot desk-spacing standard is based on recent research evaluated by state and federal health authorities. It is based substantially on the experience in Massachusetts, where school officials were allowed to choose a 3- or 6-foot separation.
National teachers union leaders on Friday urged caution in applying these findings to all situations.