County and State Officials Adopt CDC Recommendation for 3-Foot Student Spacing in Schools; Unclear if PUSD Will Follow Suit

It remained uncertain Tuesday whether Pasadena schools may follow their counterparts in Los Angeles County in adopting a recommendation from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that the minimum spacing between students returning to in-person instruction at schools be reduced from six to three feet.

The CDC issued new guidelines Friday in which the agency said it “strongly recommends” at least three feet of distance between students in classrooms, revised from the previous recommendation of six feet.

The California Department of Public Health did the same on Saturday “to align with the latest science and recent CDC guidance,” the CDPH said in a written statement.

Los Angeles County public health officials followed suit Monday.

“It is important that schools implement critical mitigation layers including required masking, stable groups and maintaining six feet of distance as much as possible during activities where students are not wearing masks, such as eating and drinking,” according to a statement issued by the L.A. County Department of Public Health. “There continues to be a requirement of a minimum of six feet of distance between teachers and other desks from students and other staff.”

But Pasadena is governed by its own municipal health department, which would need to revise its own public health order before the new recommendation could potentially be adopted as policy for local schools, city spokeswoman Lisa Derderian said. A determination had not been made Tuesday.

Additionally, Pasadena Unified School District teachers and their union, the United Teachers of Pasadena, would need to sign off on such a change in order to proceed with reopening plans, said Pasadena Board of Education President Scott Phelps.

PUSD union negotiators were scheduled to have a conference on Friday to discuss plans for reopening grades six through 12 for in-person instruction, he said. The district and union reached an agreement last allowing for the reopening of classrooms for pre-kindergarten through second grade.

United Teachers of Pasadena President Allison Steppes said the existing agreement involved six feet of distancing between students, the union does not support changing that at this time.

“As schools reopen we need to pressure test the protocols for health and safety in order to keep the community safe before we add more individuals to the classrooms,” she said.

Phelps said it was not immediately clear what effect the new CDC guidelines may ultimately have on negotiations.

Circumstances and challenges may also be affected by how many parents choose to send their kids back to in-person instruction, as opposed to continuing with distance education, Phelps added.

“Hopefully, on Friday, we’ll continue this positive momentum and get an agreement on some middle school and high school,” he said. “But I don’t know if the three-foot rule will affect the previous agreements.”