This story was last updated at 7:10 p.m.

Students in D.C. Public Schools will start the school year online, Mayor Muriel Bowser said Thursday, reversing plans to provide some in-person instruction in the fall.

Earlier this month, Bowser was expected to announce the 51,000-student school system would provide a mix of virtual and in-person classes for the 2020-2021 school year. Those plans were forcefully opposed by the Washington Teachers’ Union, which argued schools were not prepared to safely reopen.

Distance learning will start Aug. 31 and continue through at least November 6, the end of the first grading quarter. 

“We want to work with our workforce. We want to make sure that parents have confidence in an in-person option,” Bowser said. “We think that this two-month period is a good way to start.” 

Several suburban school systems, including those in Fairfax, Loudoun, Montgomery, and Prince George’s counties, have made similar decisions in recent weeks.

D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Lewis D. Ferebee said more than 200 teachers and staff worked to refine virtual instruction over the summer. They have developed attendance policies, created schedules that provide more structure for students and updated curriculum, he said. 

The school system considered providing classes outside but Ferebee said not all campuses had enough space to accommodate outdoor lessons. 

Charter schools, which educate about half of the city’s public school students, can individually decide to keep campuses closed or partially reopen with enhanced safety measures, which is currently permitted by the city. Deputy Mayor for Education Paul Kihn said he expects many charter schools will offer online classes only. 

KIPP DC, which educates nearly 7,000 students, also said it would start the school year online, backtracking on earlier plans to offer some in-person classes. Friendship Public Charter School, which enrolls 4,500 students, will also remain virtual for at least the first four weeks of school. 

Washington Teachers’ Union President Elizabeth Davis said keeping D.C. Public Schools closed prioritizes the health of teachers and students, and also acknowledged that schools provide critical support for mental health and social development.

“We’ll continue to work to protect the health of our communities and will work to ensure that all students will have a positive virtual learning experience during the coming term,” she said. 

Teachers have argued that schools struggle to provide basic classroom supplies, let alone face masks and other protective equipment. They say it is impractical to ask students to maintain social distancing measures throughout a school day.

The teachers’ union was not expecting Bowser to make an announcement about the fall until Friday, and scheduled several events this week to protest the possibility of reopening schools.

About a dozen teachers were preparing to perform a skit at Freedom Plaza, simulating a school reopening during the coronavirus pandemic, when they learned schools will not open in August. Katie Norton, a preschool teacher at School Without Walls at Francis Stevens, said she feels the city has not listened to teachers about reopening. 

“I don’t trust someone who hasn’t taught young children to make decisions about reopening schools,” she said. “There’s nothing to assure me that when we get to the end of the first quarter, at the beginning of November, that we won’t be back here demonstrating.”

Parent Russchelle Moore said she was relieved the school system decided to start the school year virtually. She did not feel comfortable sending her 15-year-old son back to school, where he could potentially become sick.

She wants the city to go further and keep campuses closed for all of next school year. 

“I wasn’t going to put my son’s health at risk,” she said. “Our kids, our teachers and these administrators shouldn’t have to pay the price.”