Public schools in Maryland will remain closed through at least the end of the school year, Maryland’s top education official announced Wednesday.

The state was just one of three in the country that had not shuttered campuses for the rest of the 2019-2020 academic year to combat the novel coronavirus, according to an analysis by Education Week. Officials in the District and Virginia had already taken similar steps to keep schools closed.

“I am convinced this is the appropriate decision in order to continue to protect the health and safety of our students, educators, staff, and all members of school communities,” said Maryland’s State Superintendent of Schools Karen B. Salmon.

The state’s nearly 900,000 public school children have participated in distance learning since March 16, when Salmon initially ordered schools closed. State education officials will release guidance to schools about improving remote learning and recovering lost instruction, a key concern among educators and families as the virus keeps campuses closed.

Salmon said the guidelines include suggestions for reopening schools, once it is safe to do so. Those recommendations include opening campuses for smaller groups of students, on an alternating schedule, with social distancing requirements.

Schools across the Washington region and the country have shifted classes online. But distance learning has created challenges for many families, and some educators worry the time away from school will exacerbate inequities, especially for students who do not have access to technology at home.

Prince George’s County Public Schools CEO Monica Goldson initially resisted distance learning because the school system could not guarantee all 133,000 of its students had computers or internet to complete assignments at home.

But the school system, which is the second-largest in the state, eventually moved to distance learning as the closures dragged on. The district spent $2 million to provide internet for families and distributed Chromebooks to students.

“We support every step to protect the well-being of all who enter our schoolhouse doors,” Goldson said in a letter to families Wednesday.

Maryland schools are the last in the Washington region to close schools through the end of the academic year.

In Virginia, Gov. Ralph Northam (D) ordered campuses closed in March. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser canceled in-person classes in April and shortened the current school year for D.C. Public Schools students by three weeks.

City officials say ending the school year early could allow campuses to reopen early in the fall to make up for lost instruction. The city’s charter schools, which educate about half of D.C.’s public school children, are also closed through the end of the school year.