SALEM — Oregon Gov. Kate Brown announced on Friday, March 5, that she was directing all Oregon schools to offer hybrid or full in-person instruction to all elementary students by March 29 and all sixth-12th grade students by April 19.

She said the science is “very, very clear” that with proper safety measures in place, there is low risk of COVID-19 transmission in schools.

“Thanks to the smart choices Oregonians have made, our COVID-19 numbers have declined,” Brown said in a statement. “All but six counties now meet or exceed Oregon’s advisory metrics for a return to in-person, hybrid learning for all K-12 grade levels. And, five of those counties meet the advisory metrics for a return to elementary school.”

School districts may still offer comprehensive distance learning to students who wish to remain fully online, the news release stated, and it will be an option for when “community transmission rates of COVID-19 warrant a transition, as determined by state or local public health directives.” Offering at least some in-person instruction will no longer be optional for districts whose COVID-19 numbers meet state guidelines for reopening, however.

According to a letter Brown sent to the directors of the Oregon Health Authority and Oregon Department of Education, a majority of Oregon students have not returned to the classroom yet. Brown put the number of students getting at least some in-person instruction at 160,105 students — less than 30% of the state’s total student population, according to ODE data.

“I am using this phased approach because, as we have seen from school districts that have returned to in-person instruction successfully, schools will return our youngest learners to school first, and apply the lessons learned from that implementation process to reopening middle and high school buildings,” Brown wrote.

The announcement comes 10 weeks since Brown relaxed the state’s role in school reopening decisions. On Dec. 23, 2020, the governor announced that individual districts, rather than state officials, would make the final decision in whether to offer in-person instruction.

Back then, about 50,000 students in public schools were regularly visiting classrooms and getting face time with teachers. By the end of last week, that number had risen to 136,000 — about 1 in 4 of the state’s public school students.

“All public schools will operate delivering in-person instruction through either a fully on-site or a hybrid instructional model, while continuing to follow the mandatory health and safety guidance from RSSL [Ready Schools, Safe Learners],” Brown wrote in a letter addressed to the leaders of the Oregon Health Authority and the Oregon Department of Education.

According to the Oregon Department of Education, almost 700 schools were operating in either a hybrid instructional model, which includes some in-person instruction, or a fully on-site model as of Feb. 27. The majority of schools — and students — in Oregon are still in comprehensive distance learning, with some small groups receiving limited in-person instruction.

Most Eastern Oregon schools had already brought at least their youngest grades back to the classroom, however. Some, like Stanfield School District, had the space to bring all students back for full days while still maintaining social distancing and small cohorts of students. Others have been offering a hybrid schedule, with students divided into two groups and going for half days or every other day.

Hermiston School District had previously announced that it planned to return middle school students to the classroom for half days starting March 22 and high school students on April 12, which would meet the governor’s deadlines. Kindergarten through third grade students have already returned, and fourth and fifth grade students will transition to a hybrid schedule on Monday, March 8.

Superintendent Tricia Mooney said the governor’s announcement is a “step in the right direction” toward bringing all Oregon students back, and it has been exciting for Hermiston School District staff to see some students back in the classroom already.

She pointed to the statement in Brown’s letter to OHA and ODE directing them to provide updated safety guidance to districts by no later than March 19, and said those updates to regulations, such as how many students are allowed in a cohort, will play into the district’s plans for bringing secondary students back.

In Pendleton, students in K-5 schools had already returned to in-person classes on Feb. 22, and in a statement on Thursday, March 4, Superintendent Chris Fritsch said the district is “planning to return our secondary students using a hybrid model on Monday, March 29.”

Fritsch said Brown’s announcement will not make any major changes to that timeline, as the original plans already fall in line with what the governor announced. He added that the school district is waiting to hear from state officials if this announcement will alter any particulars, such as physical distancing guidelines, which he said is a major barrier for bringing all students back full time.

“Right now it’s 35 square feet per student in a classroom space,” he said. “And until that changes, for a lot of us, we wouldn’t be able to bring all students back and have them all in the classroom at the same time.”

Fritsch said he expects to hear more details from state officials next week about how the governor’s recent announcement will affect Pendleton schools.

Leaders of Oregon’s teachers union responded to the announcement with a nuanced message, expressing support for a return to in-person learning, but repeating their emphasis on safety precautions.

“We hear, understand, and share the frustration expressed by many in our communities about the uncertainty this pandemic has caused for our public education system,” said the statement signed by dozens of local union presidents, “and the long-standing educational disparities that continue to be exacerbated by reopening plans that fail to truly center student equity.”

The union message calls on leaders in school districts where agreements haven’t been reached to continue bargaining “in good faith with local educators to craft plans that will truly serve all of our students.”

Brown’s announcement comes as Yellowhawk Tribal Health Center at the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation begins offering COVID-19 vaccines to students in the wake of a recent uptick in reported cases among teenagers, according to a press release from CTUIR officials.

The new vaccine effort extends to high school students 16 and over and school employees in the Pendleton, Athena, Helix and Pilot Rock school districts who have yet to be vaccinated, the press release said.

“Our children are our future,” said CTUIR Board of Trustees Chair Kat Brigham. “And to that end, if we can help stop any spread of this virus through teenage students we are happy to help provide some vaccinations.”

The Tribes’ decision to bring vaccines to students was partly influenced by the number of local high school students participating in school activities like sports and the number of recently reported positive cases being reported, as well as the plans for Pendleton High School students to return to the classroom.

As many as 40 students and five staff from the Pendleton High School boys soccer team and dance teams were potentially exposed to COVID-19 this week, Fritsch said in a recent email. The two teams are now in quarantine until March 15.

Initial reactions to Brown’s announcement were mixed. On Twitter, some replied to her tweet about the change by asking why students hadn’t been returned to the classroom earlier if the science was, indeed, clear that risks were low. Others asked whether “the science” she was looking at took into account the newer, much more contagious variants of COVID-19 beginning to circulate or whether there would be any money for schools to implement safety measures, such as ventilation for classrooms.

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Oregon Public Broadcasting reporter Elizabeth Miller and Oregonian reporter Eder Campuzano contributed to this report.