Norfolk schools relax rules for bringing students back to the classroom. When that will happen is still unclear.

The Norfolk School Board has relaxed its standards for when students will return to classrooms in person.

The plan remains tied to the key health metrics that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend districts consider, such as the number of new cases per 100,000 people and the percentage of positive tests.

But instead of requiring those rates to be in the lowest risk categories, the board agreed to a phased-in approach that would reopen schools so long as conditions fall into a “moderate” risk category.

Given current metrics, students and staff won’t be returning soon even under the newly relaxed rules. As of Wednesday, the number of new cases was almost twice as high as what would be allowed and the city’s 11.1% test positivity rate was also high risk.

“We have a really long horizon before our kids are back in school,” said board member Tanya Bhasin.

The first students who will return will still be students with disabilities in self-contained classes and English language learners, two groups for which virtual learning has been especially difficult. The board had considered revising its plan to bring students with disabilities back sooner, regardless of the health metrics, but they set that plan aside.

The board also gave Superintendent Sharon Byrdsong the authority to decide the timeline for students’ return. Initially, the plan was to bring a new group back in three-week intervals. The board told her to move as fast as the district is able to safely.

The changes put Norfolk’s plans more in line with what the CDC has recommended and more in line with surrounding districts’ plans. The district’s original plan was one of the most conservative regionally because it tied reopening to eight different health metrics, including some that the CDC specifically said shouldn’t be part of districts’ main criteria. A group of Norfolk doctors had petitioned the board to reconsider.

Board member Noelle Gabriel, a pediatrician who pushed for the board’s conservative approach, said she was comfortable relaxing the thresholds now because of research and advice that’s come out since the board made its initial decision in October.

“I think we have to find a balance here,” she said.

Sara Gregory, 757-469-7484, sara.gregory@pilotonline.com