Want to reopen a school? Here's the state Health Department's guidance

State health officials said that they must first give approval to every school’s plans before classes from pre-kindergarten to 12th grade can be held in person.

According to the guidelines, everyone in a school will be required to wear protective face covering when they are in public areas and whenever 6 feet of social distancing cannot be maintained. Provisions should be made to give students breaks to remove their masks.

Social distancing should be increased to 12 feet in rooms where students are singing, playing wind instruments or performing aerobic activities, the guidelines said.

It will be mandatory for everyone to have their temperature taken every day. Those with temperatures of 100 or higher will not be allowed to enter schools.

Other guidelines and recommendations included:

• Face coverings and social distancing at all times on school buses.
• Stagger arrival and departure times.
• Encourage parents and guardians to walk or drive their children to school.
• Set up one-way traffic patterns in hallways and public areas.
• Explore alternative classroom spaces, indoors and outdoors.
• Provide for hybrid learning plans and distance learning.
• Increase ventilation with outside air by opening windows and doors whenever possible.
• Group students in small self-contained “cohorts” for instruction and other activities.
• Eliminate use of lockers or assigning them by cohorts.
• Limit sharing of writing utensils and other objects.
• Clean and disinfect work stations, desks, tables and other surfaces before they are used again.
• Plan for contract tracing in case someone comes down with Covid-19 and lay out provisions for return after recovery and quarantine.
• Keep mandatory logs of all cleaning and disinfecting activities.
• Post prominent signs reminding everyone to follow sanitary procedures.
• Limit access to school buildings and require visitors to follow the same safety rules.
• Have a plan to close the school again, if necessary.