In this Jan. 29, 2021 file photo, Victoria Vo raises her hand, background center, in the back of Hannah Thrower’s kindergarten class at Alice Smith Elementary School in Reno, Nev. U.S. guidelines that say students should be kept 6 feet apart in schools are receiving new scrutiny from federal health experts, state governments and education officials working to return as many children as possible to the classroom. AP photos

Changing federal guidance over the amount of social distancing needed for children to be in school safely may not have much impact locally for rest of the 2020-21 school year.

The Centers for Disease Control’s current guidance recommends schools keep desks at least 6 feet apart when feasible, but a new study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases suggests that 3 feet may be as safe as 6 feet, so long as everyone is masked. Published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, the research looked at schools in Massachusetts, which has backed the 3-foot guideline for months. Illinois and Indiana are also allowing 3 feet of distance, and other states such as Oregon are considering doing the same.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now exploring the idea too, according to the Associated Press. The agency’s director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, said the 6-foot guideline is “among the biggest challenges” schools have faced in reopening. Other organizations have issued more relaxed guidelines, including the World Health Organization, which urges 1 meter in schools. The American Academy of Pediatrics says to space desks “3 feet apart and ideally 6 feet apart.”

New York is not one of those states despite testimony from Dr. Howard Zucker, state health commissioner, during a February state budget hearing that the 6-foot distancing policy was being reviewed. Assemblyman Steve Hawley, R-Batavia, sent a letter to Zucker in early March asking for Zucker to review the 6-foot rule as well.

“At this point in time New York state has not adopted that,” said Bert Lictus, Panama Central School superintendent during a Board of Education meeting Monday.

“I know there were a couple of counties that made comment up around Syracuse. Local counties do not have the authority to overrule state Health Department guidelines.”

Lictus said even if the state does change the guidelines it may be too late for major changes to be made for schools that are about to head into spring vacation before returning to school for the last two months of the school year. Discussion at the federal level seems to focus on kindergarten through eighth grade children, Lictus said, which could be done. The district would have a tougher time accommodating all students every day.

“I’m not really sure what it’s going to mean,” Lictus said. “What I’d like to tell people is there are areas of our state that are hybrid kindergarten through 12th grade and I know there is a push to get those younger students in the building every day because of day care, mom and dad have obligations. It’s been very, very hard academically and financially and socially and emotionally for the younger students. I’m not sure when this comes out if it will be the push to have everyone 100% or something to the effect schools have to be 50%, which right now we are.”

According to the Associated Press, seven superintendents in central Oregon sent a letter to Gov. Kate Brown last week asking the state to relax some of its social distancing rules — including the 6-foot barrier — so that more students can return to class full time.

Oregon’s Crook County School District, which has had students in classrooms most of the school year, has found that masks, contact tracing and sending students home when they show symptoms are the most effective means of combating the virus.

In some states that already allow 3-feet spacing, schools say they have seen no evidence of increased risk. School officials in Danville, Indiana, which moved to 3 feet in October, said students have been in the classroom all year with no uptick in virus transmission.

As for Panama, Lictus said the district is keeping abreast of the discussions at the state and federal levels, but lunches in the school cafeteria are one of the bigger hurdles to deal with.

“Right now we have a system in place that’s worked very well for our school,” Lictus said. “It was hard to develop and people and families are used to the schedule. On the other hand the more the kids are in school the better everybody is. Three feet, we’ll see what that looks like. Accommodating that for lunches in the cafeteria is going to be very difficult, to be honest. … There’s a lot to figure out in the cafeteria.”