‘Iolani School plans to bring all students back to campus Sept. 21 with extensive safety precautions against COVID-19, but some other big private schools remain wary of in-person classes.

Punahou School and Mid-Pacific Institute have said they will continue distance learning until at least Oct. 5. Kamehameha Schools Kapalama is also scheduled to stick with remote learning until Oct. 11, the end of its fall break.

‘Iolani School, which has an enrollment of more than 2,000 students in kindergarten through grade 12, said the decision to resume in-person instruction was based on World Health Organization criteria for school reopening, consultation with medical experts and “the decreasing trend of positive test results in our community.”

All students at ‘Iolani will wear both face masks and plastic shields in class and will wash or sanitize their hands before every class. Other safety measures against COVID-19 include daily check-ins on a health app, safe distancing, more use of outdoor spaces, grade-level cohorts and a new tracking and tracing system.

“The emotional and social well-being of our community are equally important to the academic experience,” said Timothy Cottrell, head of school. “Testing has shown a high degree of protection when wearing both masks and face shields.”

“With these layers of PPE, regular hand hygiene, and social distancing, our students, faculty and staff will be able to interact in a safe way,” he added. “We are committed to maintaining educational excellence even in these unique times.”

Students will come to campus in smaller groups over the first four days to get oriented on the proper use of PPE and other procedures, with everyone expected back on campus Sept. 25. The school has also hired more staff to help with hybrid learning for teachers and students who need to stay home for health reasons.

Meanwhile, officials at Punahou and Mid-Pacific say the risk remains too high for them to bring back all their students.

“We have concluded that we will need to remain in the Red alert level and continue distance learning until at least Oct. 5,” President Michael Latham wrote Friday in a message to Punahou families. “We hope that conditions will improve sufficiently to allow for a return to campus by then or soon thereafter.”

He said the school is waiting for more improvement in health conditions, such as “a sustained reduction in test positivity, with consistent figures lower than 5%” as well as “sustained and significant reduction in daily caseloads over a two-week period.”

Mid-Pacific Institute announced Friday that it has extended distance learning for grades 1 through 12 until Oct. 5, when it plans to bring students back to campus on a staggered basis.

Preschool and kindergarten students are already attending classes on campus if their parents chose that option, and will continue in that mode.

“We are disappointed at not being able to resume in-person instruction for most of our grade levels at this time, but we are looking forward to and planning for a full return to campus this October and November following an improvement in the Hawaii community metrics,” Paul Turnbull, Mid-Pacific president, wrote in the message to families.

Kamehameha Schools Kapalama is in primarily distance-learning mode through Oct. 11. Only students with special approval to receive support for distance learning are currently allowed on campus.