D.C. Health lifted its indoor mask mandate for schools on Tuesday, shifting the decision to require face coverings in schools – or not – to education leaders.

The updated guidance does not necessarily mean students in the District will immediately be able to attend school without a mask. D.C. Public Schools, the city’s traditional school system, and individual charter operators may still choose to maintain their mandates.

D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Lewis Ferebee said in a statement the 51,000-student school system will keep its mandate for the time being. Ferebee said the district will engage with the Washington Teachers’ Union and other groups representing school workers before moving forward with any decisions. The school system lifted its outdoor mask requirement last week.

“Our highest priority is ensuring a safe and supportive environment for our students to learn and grow,” Ferebee said. “For the immediate time being, masks are still required indoors at all D.C. Public Schools for students, staff and visitors.”

Jacqueline Pogue Lyons, the president of the Washington Teachers’ Union, said the group would not immediately push back against any decision to lift the mask requirement in D.C. Public Schools.

She said the move would match recently updated guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that recommends universal masking in schools only in communities at a high level of risk.

“It was my hope that we could wait until after spring break but … many of the people in the public health field have been saying that it’s reasonable right now to lift it,” she said. “We have always followed the science but as usual we have to be able to pivot if things change.”

Lyons said she is still surveying teachers about their thoughts on easing the requirement. She said schools should immediately return to masking if community transmission levels increase.

Some educators in Wards 7 and 8, areas of the city with schools that educate mostly Black students, are worried dropping the mask requirement could disproportionately hurt Black students, Lyons said.

COVID-19 vaccination rates among Black children lag behind their white, Hispanic and Asian peers.

Forty-three percent of Black 12 to 15-year-olds are fully vaccinated against COVID, according to data from D.C. Health. That’s compared to 75 percent of white children, 73 percent of Asian children and 82 percent of Hispanic children in the same age group.

Shannon Hodge, the executive director of the DC Charter School Alliance, a group that represents charter operators, said many school leaders are still reviewing the updated health guidance.

“Charter schools have adapted to continually changing information and conditions, and they will continue to be nimble, responsive, and data-driven as we enter this new phase of the public health crisis,” Hodge said in the statement.

D.C. Health still recommends masking on campuses if COVID-19 transmission is  considered “high” in the community.  Transmission levels are currently “low.”

The option to lift masking requirements also applies to childcare facilities and colleges and universities. 

A growing number of localities in the D.C. region have made face coverings optional inside school buildings in recent weeks.

Hours before D.C. Health eliminated its mask requirement, the Montgomery County Board of Education unanimously voted to lift its mandate for the 160,000-student school system in suburban Maryland.

School systems in Northern Virginia were among the first in the region to reverse mask mandates after Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed a law in February banning districts from requiring face coverings on campuses.

The updated D.C. Health guidance also revises several other recommendations. 

It lifts physical distancing suggestions inside school buildings and shortens quarantine requirements for unvaccinated students and staff to five days if the person tests negative for COVID-19 on the fifth day after exposure. 

And it eases data reporting requirements for schools – schools must only notify D.C. Health if they have five or more confirmed cases in a building within a five day period. Up until this point in the pandemic, schools have been responsible for reporting every COVID case to the health department. 

The updated recommendations also lay out how regularly schools should conduct coronavirus testing. 

The guidance says schools should screen students for COVID when the community is experiencing medium or high levels of transmission. Testing does not need to happen during periods of low transmission, the guidance says.

Some school leaders still plan to move with caution, despite the freedom to ease health and safety protocols. 

Adam Rupe, a spokesperson for KIPP DC, the largest charter operator in the city, said it could be weeks or months before schools see changes to safety protocols based on the updated recommendations. Families and educators have urged a cautious approach to face-to-face instruction during the pandemic, he added.

“Our teachers and our families really value in-person school and want to make it as safe as possible,” he said.

This story was updated to include comments from Jacqueline Pogue Lyons, the president of the Washington Teachers’ Union, and Shannon Hodge, the executive director of the DC Charter School Alliance.