New CDC Guidelines: 3-Foot Social Distancing In Schools, Colorado Districts Plan Return To In-Person Learning
BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4) – Some of the largest school districts in Colorado are celebrating a recent announcement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which allows students to be closer together while in the education setting. New CDC guidelines now allow secondary students to be within three feet of each other, whereas for months they've been kept six feet apart.
Boulder Valley School District communications director Randy Barber said this was a victory for the education system in many ways.
First, it clears out confusion among parents who didn't understand why elementary students could be three feet away while their siblings had to be six feet back. It also allows the district to return to full-class in-person learning for secondary students. Before, with six feet distancing, many classes couldn't fit as a whole in individual rooms.
"Our kids need to be back in-person," Barber told CBS4's Dillon Thomas. "I think that, for a lot of parents and staff, hearing the contradiction between what we heard local as opposed to the national level, and the exact amount of feet we had to have between people made it more difficult than it needed to be."
Boulder Valley plans to open all of its schools to full in-person learning as soon as April 30, the first day back to school since spring break. Currently, the district is operating on four-day school weeks, with educators taking Mondays to plan.
Families are given the option to keep students home from in-person learning during this semester, even as the district plans to reopen its facilities. An estimated 20% of parents are electing to keep their kids home for remote learning right now.
Barber said the steps the district, and many others, are taking away from social distancing have proven to be safe. The three-foot distancing, mixed with other guidelines, can still work in a safe learning environment according to the district.
"Ensuring that students are wearing masks, washing hands and that we have good ventilation has proven to be very safe and effective in our schools. We don't see much transmission between students and staff," Barber said. "As long as they're taking care of those precautions there is not a significant spread of the disease."
Barber said the district has already made plans to return to five-day school weeks in August, with more emphasis on making sure students are getting quality in-person educations for the 2021-2022 school year.
"It is a big step for us to have all the high school and middle school students back in the classroom," Barber said. "We want to be back to as normal as possible. But, we want to do that in a safe manner where they aren't getting sick."