On Monday, the mayor announced that public school students will be able to opt in to in-person learning between March 24 and April 7.

Pre-K, 3-K, elementary, and District 75 (schools for children with special needs) students who have opted in will be able to return to classrooms in April.

Middle school and high school students will also be able to opt in during this time frame, but there are no concrete guidelines on when those students will actually be able to return to the classroom.

“We still have more work to do for middle and high schools,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio at his daily press briefing. 

He went on to say: “The opt-in will include middle and high school students so we know what their intentions are and then we’ll be able to provide more information as we get more guidance and as we see the overall situation evolve.”

The announcement comes as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced eased recommendations for social distancing in schools from six feet to three feet on Friday. This provides the opportunity for more children to be inside classrooms. However, these guidelines are stricter for older students. 

On Monday, high school students who already opted in returned to classrooms across 488 schools for the first time since November. Middle school students who previously opted in have already returned to school buildings.