The Anchorage School District said it plans to continue keeping students as close to 6 feet apart as possible, even as federal officials relaxed their distancing recommendation to 3 feet last week.
ASD Deputy Superintendent Mark Stock said there’s no need to drastically change the policy, but teachers will now have some flexibility.
“Our mitigation plan that we’ve been using really seems to be working,” Stock said about 2,500 classrooms currently operating in the district.
All K-12 students now have the choice to return to in-person learning in the Anchorage School District. Middle and high school students returned last week.
A total of 40 classrooms have had to temporarily close because of COVID-19 since in-person learning began in January.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention update has helped some school districts around the country that chose not to reopen buildings because there was not enough room to space all students 6 feet apart. But ASD has always operated with a policy of spacing students as close to 6 feet apart as possible.
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The district has tried to significantly reduce student interactions in school buildings. For example, changing schedules from six classes a day to three at the secondary level reduced opportunity for student interaction by 50%, Stock said.
Some families sticking with at-home learning has also helped to reduce class sizes: Stock said about 30% percent of families are not doing in-person learning at the secondary level.
The updated CDC guidance also removed a recommendation for physical barriers. Stock said any changes related to that update are up to teachers and individual schools.
Stock said a recent survey of staff showed 84% who responded were fully vaccinated and another 5% waiting to receive their second shot.
Clarification: The headline of this article was changed to better reflect the district’s response to the new guidelines.
