Stonington — The Board of Education voted Tuesday to reopen schools with all students attending school each day and sitting 3 feet apart, a plan that meets American Academy of Pediatric guidelines.

The plan does not meet Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, which require students to be kept 6 feet apart but are far more costly, and virtually impossible to implement due to the need for many more buses, teachers and classrooms.

The option selected by the board will cost an additional $543,000, money not in the current budget. The money is needed for extra custodians for cleaning, paraprofessionals, desks and bus monitors. Clear partitions will be installed to ensure social distancing and all students and staff will have to wear masks.

The board, meanwhile, will have two backup plans in place in the event cases of COVID-19 spike and there are new directives from the Ledge Light Health District and the state.

Currently the state says students should return to school every day.

The two options are a hybrid plan in which students would return to school two days a week and learn remotely the other three days, as well as an all-distance learning plan. The school system will submit its three plans to the state for approval this week.

“Unfortunately with a pandemic we are not in driver’s seat, so we have to have all three plans available,” board Chairman Farouk Rajab said.

Before the vote, Rajab read several emails from residents about how to resume school, which ranged from supporting the return to in-person learning, to continuing remote learning.

Board members said they were worried about the achievement gap and community and family impact if students had to continue with virtual learning.

Heidi Simmons said that just because students are returning to schools and parents won’t have to assist with remote learning, "they are not off the hook with this plan.”

“Parents are going to have to be partners with the school,” she said.

Some parents have offered to provide masks and drive their students to school, which will help with social distancing on buses.

Superintendent Van Riley said he will have more details on the plan for the board at its Aug. 13 meeting.

Riley said that parents of more than 250 students have said they do not want their children to return to school and prefer virtual learning. He again stressed that virtual learning would be available to all families who want it. He also said a survey of 225 teachers and other staff members, such as guidance counselors, showed 43 did not want to return to the schools.

“The problem will be trying to match teachers who can’t come back with students who can’t come back,” he said.

Results of an updated survey that will be sent to the parents and staff about their plans to return in advance of the Aug. 13 board meeting.

The board on Tuesday also approved a 180-day school year instead of the originally planned 182 days, with school now starting Sept. 8 instead of the prior week.

j.wojtas@theday.com