School officials in D.C., Maryland and Virginia say they plan to adopt revised school reopening guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The guidance reduces the recommended physical distance between students in classrooms from six feet to three feet, provided that all students are masked.

“This updated guidance and the continued low rate of cases in schools should empower all Maryland schools to bring more students back into the classroom and/or give students the opportunity to receive in-person instruction more frequently before the end of the school year,” wrote Maryland State Schools Superintendent Karen Salmon and Maryland Deputy Public Health Secretary Dr. Jinlene Chan in a letter to school administrators across the state on Thursday.

In Virginia, the Department of Education’s guidance has also been updated to reflect the CDC recommendations (the department had already moved to recommend three-foot distancing prior to the CDC update, according to the department’s website).

Arlington Public Schools is planning to adopt the new guidance. Loudoun County schools had already announced a switch to three-foot distancing last week, prior to the publication of the CDC recommendations. A spokeswoman for D.C. Public Schools said the system was “working closely with DC Health on adopting the revised guidance” and would share details soon on what the changes will mean for the fourth quarter of the school year, which begins on April 19.

Montgomery Public Schools officials said at a school board meeting this week that “planning is in progress to identify opportunities” for the district based on the new recommendations. Fairfax County Public Schools, the largest district in the region, also said it was reviewing the guidance and would have further updates after spring break. Prince George’s County Public Schools and Alexandria City Public Schools have not released any public communications on the subject yet.

The CDC guidance, released March 19, says that three feet of physical distance between students is sufficient for students in elementary schools. It makes the same recommendation for students in middle and high schools, provided that the community is experiencing certain transmission levels (low, moderate, or substantial, but not high), and provided that middle and high school students are able to stay in cohorts throughout the school day. If transmission is high or middle and high school students are not cohorted, the CDC says they should remain 6 ft. apart. Adults in schools, too, should continue to maintain six feet of distance, per the CDC.

Even in elementary school settings, the CDC continues to advise six feet of distancing for students in many cases outside of the classroom, like cafeterias, in school lobbies, and during activities where students might be breathing hard (e.g. gym class, sports practice, or musical rehearsals).

School leaders say the revised recommendations will help them develop strategies to bring students back to school for five days a week in the fall, and shape plans for remedial summer learning.

“Given the timing of this change, as we approach the end of the third quarter, this does help us plan more effectively for five day schedules in the summer and the fall,” said Arlington schools superintendent Francisco Durán.

Some local school systems, including Fairfax County Public Schools, the region’s largest, have recognized the guidance publicly but have not yet provided specifics on how it will impact schools’ capacity for in-person instruction, staffing, or infection control protocols.

“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) new guidance around social distancing in schools gives us the opportunity to consider expanding in-person instruction to include additional days,” Fairfax schools superintendent Scott Brabrand wrote in a community letter on Thursday. “We are assessing student needs and working with our facilities staff to identify each school’s capacity and will share more information after spring break.”

Durán, in Arlington, said the changes would likely mean additional capacity for students in the district’s hybrid learning model, but that the impact would vary from school building to school building.

“Schools will be contacting families on waitlists. They already have been, in many cases, doing this even prior to this guidance based on their capacity,” he told the school board on Thursday. “And so if you’re interested in having your student begin reporting in person, you should contact your school.”

Many parents hoped the new guidance would allow Arlington schools to add more days of in-person instruction (the district currently offers a hybrid learning model), but Durán said the logistics were too complicated for the school system to make a big change with just a quarter left in the school year.

“As we approach the end of the third quarter, we began to really unpack and see the the challenges that would be needed to really make this happen in the time and effort that will need to be put in place — that will be taken away from our ability to really strengthen and enhance the virtual hybrid model that we’re currently in,” he said.

He acknowledged the “disappointment” that many might feel at the news. “This is something we all want to do,” he said, and said that the district would work to make 5-day instruction available over the summer and in the fall.

The barriers to increasing in-person instruction given the new CDC guidance are many, according to Durán. They include re-surveying all parents to understand their enrollment preferences for their children; going back to the drawing board on school schedules and teacher staffing; and ramping up other infection control strategies and contact tracing to reflect a bigger in-school student population.

Durán also recognized that some parents might want to pull their students back into fully virtual learning as the district moves to 3-ft. physical distancing.

“I’ve also received calls and feedback from many families who selected hybrid [learning] with the expectation that it would be six foot,” he said. “They’ve said if it moves to three, they would want to change out back to virtual.”

Officials with Montgomery County Public Schools said in a board meeting on Tuesday that they’re still evaluating the CDC guidance. MCPS chief of engagement Derek Turner cited a few big logistical questions the school system is currently wrestling with, including revisions to school staffing plans and capacity for a larger number of students on buses.

“Right now, we have one student per seat. This may require us to think about two students per seat to make transportation still functional for our students,” Turner said.

Turner also noted that the CDC guidance allows for 3 ft. distance in classrooms, but recommends six during meals — a complication, given that many in-person students in Montgomery schools are currently eating lunch in their classrooms.