Private schools in Montgomery County will be allowed to reopen for in-person classes in the fall after the county’s top health official backed down from a directive that pitted the large Maryland suburb against state officials.

Montgomery County Health Officer Dr. Travis Gayles on Friday rescinded an order that would have prohibited private schools from offering in-person classes through at least Oct. 1. Gayles made the decision a day after Maryland’s Secretary of Health Robert R. Neall issued a memorandum to health officers prohibiting jurisdictions from issuing blanket closures of schools.

Gayles still “continues to strongly advise schools against in-person learning due to the risks posed by COVID-19,” according to a county news release.

A county spokesman said officials will work with schools that choose to reopen “to ensure that all students and people who are in the building are safe.”

Montgomery County, the state’s most populous jurisdiction, initially barred private schools from reopening in an order issued last week. Gov. Larry Hogan sharply rebuked the decision, issuing an emergency order reversing it. Hogan said county health officers do not have the authority to bar all private schools from opening, and called Montgomery County’s mandate overly broad. 

On Wednesday Gayles doubled down on efforts to keep campuses shuttered, issuing a second order that required campuses to stay closed. But in his Thursday message to county health officers, Neall said schools and school systems  have  the authority to decide if they should reopen and that county officials should individually evaluate schools’ reopening plans.

“The State of Maryland’s position is that all schools, including public school systems and non-public schools, be provided with the individualized opportunity to determine how they are able to comply with the federal and state COVID-19 guidance,” Neall said.

Parents of some students enrolled in Montgomery County private schools have strongly opposed the county’s efforts to keep private schools closed, and some families sued the county over its order.

Kim Beahn, one of the parents who filed the lawsuit, said she is “hopeful that today’s action resolves the issue for good.” She said staff at her children’s school, Our Lady of Mercy School in Potomac, Md., has spent the summer planning for students to safely return to school. 

“We felt very comfortable with what was proposed to be able to send our kids back,” she said. “The decision should really reside with schools and the parents, on behalf of their kids.” 

The county is home to several elite private schools, including Georgetown Preparatory School and St. Andrew’s Episcopal School, which educates President Trump’s youngest son, Barron. St. Andrew’s decided to start the school year with distance learning.

All public schools systems in the Washington region, including Montgomery County Public Schools, have opted to start the school year virtually. In Maryland, which is in Phase 2 of reopening, schools may reopen with social distancing and other safety measures.

Last week, Gayles said keeping schools closed would protect residents as coronavirus cases spike across Maryland. The state has recorded nearly 95,000 coronavirus cases, including more than 18,000 in Montgomery County.

“At this point the data does not suggest that in-person instruction is safe for students or teachers,” he said.