Chico Unified school officials, parents react to new 3-foot social distancing rule

Chico Unified school officials, parents react to new 3-foot social distancing rule

School officials and parents in Chico are reacting after the state of California said it is on board with the CDC guidance change that is relaxing physical distancing guidelines for children in schools to 3 feet of distance.

Social distance is shrinking at schools across our area.

The state of california now on board with the c-d-c guidance change..

That says 3 feet is far enough apart.

New at 5 -- action news now reporter krisitan lopez shows us what this means for your kids' education.

Harrison bamlet & chance hary/3rd graders: "it honestly makes me feel sad."

3rd graders - harrison bamlet and chance hary are only going to school for 2 hours a day.

They both say& it is just not enough... harrison bamlet & chance hary/3rd graders: "i would like to see school days, getting longer and longer."

Now that the state is shrinking social distancing - some parents like matt thomason hope it will get kids back to the classroom faster.

Matt thomason/parent: especially with the new guidelines that have come out from the cdc for 3 foot spacing versus what we've been told before its an ever evolving thing that is just continually giving evidence that our kids can return to school now."

Kristian: three feet apart is the new guidance, could we see the board reconsider, could anything change because of this?

Matt tennis / chico unified board member: hopefully, we clearly need to get schools open as soon as possible.

Kristian: what is the board's take right now on why they're not opening then?

Matt tennis/board member: its totally incomprehensibl e...there's no reason why we should remain closed at this point.

Kristian bridge: i took all of these concerns to school officials here at the chico unified school district.

Kristian: this new three foot rule, does this change anything here at chico unified, could we see a decision being changed because of this?

Jay marchant/assistant superintendent: all i can tell you that we will be finding out how many more students now we can fit into the classrooms at three foot, it makes it easier to put more kids in the classroom.

I don't really want to speak for the board on making any decisions if we're going to go back full time this year or not, we got together this morning to discuss our plans on what it would look like, for three foot, with the furniture and spacing in the classrooms, so right now we are working on that, obviously thats a move in a positive direction of getting more kids in the classroom and making that transition a lot more smoother.

Kristian: if schools days were able to open up all day how would that make you feel?

Harrison bamlet & chance hary/3rd graders: it would make me feel like heaven.

Kristian: right now the plan is to welcome students back to campus full time next fall and school officials say its too soon to tell if the new state guidance could change that.

In the next chico the next chico unififed school board meeting is scheduled for april 7th.

Alan -- things are closer to normal for kids ..