D.C. Public Schools will not reopen elementary school buildings next week, delaying plans to bring some students back to physical classrooms after fierce pushback from teachers, parents and school principals.

The school system planned on bringing back thousands of children to elementary schools starting Nov. 9, the start of the second quarter. But in a letter to the community Monday morning, Chancellor Lewis D. Ferebee said all students will start the quarter virtually.

“We commit to supporting our students, families, teachers, and staff in our urgent mission to safely reopen schools,” Ferebee said. “We will use this moment to adjust our timeline and staffing plans for reopening.”

The announcement came as pressure from educators and families to delay plans for reopening mounted. The Washington Teachers’ Union encouraged teachers to take a mental health day on Monday, creating staffing challenges at campuses and forcing some school leaders to cancel virtual classes for the day.

Sammy Magnuson, a fourth-grade teacher at John Eaton Elementary School in Cleveland Park, said she has been wracked with anxiety for several weeks, unsure if she would be asked to teach in person. She is still nervous the school system has not provided criteria for how it would decide when to bring students back to campuses.

“I’m relieved at the delay,” said Magnuson, who took a mental health day in solidarity with the teachers union. “I’m disconcerted it took this long for this many shouting voices to be heard.”

With a week to go before schools were to reopen, key questions remained. The Washington Teachers’ Union and the school system could not agree on terms for reopening — the union wanted teachers to have the ability to opt out of in-person teaching and the school system did not. It was unclear how DCPS would decide which teachers to send back for in-person teaching or how many were told they were expected to return.

The public school system, which enrolled 51,000 students last academic year, wanted to use teachers’ responses on a form and survey to identify about 700 teachers who would provide in-person instruction to 7,000 students, in classes of 11 or fewer. Students were invited by the school system to take in-person classes, with priority given to students for whom officials said distance learning is especially challenging — students with disabilities, English language learners and students who belong to low-income families. 

But the school system tossed out the form and survey to comply with a ruling from the Public Employee Relations Board, a city panel that mediates labor disputes, after the Washington Teachers’ Union filed a complaint.

Ferebee said that ruling prevented DCPS from staffing in-person classes next week. But he indicated the school system can and would require teachers to work in-person — without an agreement from the union — moving forward.

“We believe we have the right to do that,” he said.

Ebon McPherson, a preschool teacher at Peabody Elementary School in Capitol Hill, said the uncertainty has made it impossible for her to plan. She has two children in middle and high school who also need her help with distance learning. She does not know what she would do if she were mandated to teach in person and fears carrying the virus home.

McPherson led a brief march around Lincoln Park on Friday, where educators and parents called on the school system to keep buildings closed during the coronavirus pandemic.

“I can’t plan for my own needs and my family’s needs,” she said. “It’s anxiety provoking.”

The plans for reopening also created another potential challenge: larger class sizes.

If another preschool teacher at Peabody ended up teaching in-person, some students from that teacher’s virtual class would have been reassigned to McPherson’s class.

She said she barely has enough time to give all her students a chance to speak in class every week.

“The quality is going to go down,” she said.

Plans for reopening campuses have stoked criticism from unions representing teachers, principals and school nurses, who argue buildings cannot safely reopen. But even some parents who want their children back in school criticized the system’s plans.

Gertrude Johnson, the mother of a student at Watkins Elementary School, said her son could have been reassigned to another virtual class if the boy’s current teacher shifted to in-person teaching. She worries a change would create a lack of stability, undermining the weeks her son has spent acclimating himself to his teacher’s expectations.

“It’s a good idea to bring kids back but this is not the way to do it,” she said. “They’ve been able to function at a semi-productive level everyday and then you’re going to turn that upside down? How is that helpful?”

Teachers are not the only workers who face uncertainty. More than 2,000 city employees could be needed to staff CARE classrooms, where up to 14,000 students would continue with virtual learning under the supervision of an adult.

In his letter Monday, Ferebee said the school system will open CARE classrooms “as soon as staffing plans are confirmed.” He said the school system will start offering those seats to students who already accepted in-person class assignments.

The city’s human resources department has asked non-school system workers, including those in the Department of Parks and Recreation and the Child and Family Services Agency, to volunteer to staff those classrooms. Workers at middle and high schools are also being reassigned to oversee elementary school students, drawing ire from principals who argue removing staff will be detrimental for older schoolchildren. 

A union that represents D.C. principals, the Council of School Officers, wrote a letter to city officials that said the plan “pits elementary and secondary schools and students against one another for resources.” At some schools, between 10 and 20 staff members, including assistant principals, instructional coaches and counselors, could be reassigned to oversee CARE classrooms, according to the union.

“This will result in the effectiveness of the secondary school virtual program being crippled,” the letter said.

Ferebee said Monday some middle and high school workers, including assistant principals, will no longer be asked to staff the CARE classrooms. Middle and high school students are expected to continue with distance learning until at least the start of the third grading term, which starts in February.

This story was updated with additional comments from Chancellor Lewis D. Ferebee.