Syracuse, N.Y. — Kids, teachers and staff members at every school in New York will need to wear masks for the reopening of school.

Everyone gets a temperature check before entering the building.

Some classes might be moved to municipal buildings if schools do not have enough space to keep students six feet apart.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo today outlined how schools will be able to reopen and pulled the curtain back on some of what they will look like.

In a set of guidelines, the state answered some of the questions parents and school districts have been asking for weeks. The 23 pages go into detail on cleaning, communication, cubbies and lockers, one-way hallways, lunch, physical education and hand-washing.

The state rules don’t order districts to follow one kind of schedule. It’ll be up to each district to choose from all in-person classes, all-remote classes or a hybrid. But those choices depend, in large part, on what the guidelines allow.

Highlights of the guidelines:

• Masks are required when social distance of six feet cannot be kept; masks are recommended all the time.
• Six feet is the required social distance, not three feet, which some other states have used. This cuts most class sizes in half, to about 10 or 12 people. The state could also require shields, as schools in other countries have, when the social distance cannot be met.
• Students should be grouped in smaller cohorts and kept together throughout the day to lower the risk of transferring the virus. The students could stay in one spot and teachers could move throughout the day.
• There is no decision on sports or other extracurricular activities yet. The guidance makes it clear that no interscholastic sports are allowed right now and more information will be coming soon. Teams typically start to practice in August.
• Some activities will need 12 feet of social distance. Those include chorus, playing woodwind and brass instruments, and physical education classes.
• Kids must be six feet apart on buses unless they are related. They also will have to wear masks. That means a bus that usually transports more than 60 kids will have about 10 or 12.
• Students must be socially distanced during lunch unless they are related. They can eat in their classroom or in the cafeteria, but if they eat in the cafeteria, it must be disinfected between groups. No buffet-style lunch is allowed.
• There will be daily temperature checks. Anyone with a temperature of over 100 degrees will be sent home.
• Schools must come up with exemptions for adults and students who have physical or mental health problems that prevent them from wearing masks.

It will be up to the schools to figure out how to meet many of these rules. The state Board of Regents, which oversees the state Education Department, also discussed its guidelines for reopening today. Those rules will be issued Wednesday and will likely include more details on the instructional guidelines schools will have to meet. Districts have until July 31 to complete their plans.

Read the 23 pages of guidelines issued by the state for school reopening.

The regents today said three regulations will be relaxed to make it easier for districts to adapt to the complex task of schooling during the coronavirus pandemic:

• Teachers will be allowed for longer periods to teach subjects for which they are not certified.
• Substitute teachers who do not have a college degree will be allowed to teach for longer than 40 days.
• The state requirement for 180 minutes of in-person instruction each week will be waived.

School districts anticipated much of what they saw today, said Bob Lowry of the New York State Council of School Superintendents. They had hoped for rules that offered more flexibility and creativity when it comes to social distancing, he said.

But they have already been bracing for the hard work of figuring out how to get kids to school and have enough space for them when they arrive.

“The social distancing is the most daunting,” Lowry said. “The idea of six feet in a classroom, a hallway, or on a school bus. All of those things are going to be challenging.”

Most classes will be cut in half, from more than 25 students to fewer than 12. Buses will go from transporting more than 60 kids to 12 or fewer. The Regents encouraged districts to ask parents to transport their children when they can.

Lowry said finding the money will be hard, especially when districts are expecting to lose state and federal aid.

Nellie Brown, who has been working with districts across the nation on their reopening plans, said it is how the guidelines actually play out in each school that will make the difference.

“Of course, the devil is in the details,” said Brown, director of Workplace Health & Safety Programs at The Worker Institute of Cornell University.

She said that the temperature screenings required by the state guidelines to get into schools will not catch asymptomatic cases of Covid-19. She also pointed out that some of the options that are best for safety, like sending kids for half days so they are spaced out as much as possible, may create burdens for families.

“Can families deal with children being home for half the time, especially if both parents work?” she said.

She also questioned whether children, especially the younger ones, would wear their masks correctly or wash their hands and sanitize as often as they should to prevent passing the infection.

“Everyone needs to build new habits,” Brown said.

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Marnie Eisenstadt is a reporter who writes about people and public affairs in Central New York. Have an idea or question? Contact her anytime: email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-470-2246