Catherine Burges, News Editor
@cburges_courant
On January 25th, a “Hybrid-Plus” plan went into effect to start off the second semester of the school year. The goal of this plan was to increase in-person attendance for students from 50% capacity with the initial hybrid system to 75% capacity. . This was done by creating four cohorts rather than of the two, and scheduling three of the four cohorts to be in the building each day. Over the course of an eight day cycle, a student can attend class in-person six out of eight days, participating remotely for the remaining two.
Chair of the School Counselling Department Cynthia Rivera, spoke about what positive effects she feels this new development will bring to the student body. “Students have expressed feeling disconnected from learning this year, particularly when they are home. It is more difficult to maintain friendships, establish relationships with teachers and focus to the same level as pre-pandemic,” she said. “I think the main positive effect the hybrid plus plan will have is by allowing students and teachers to feel more connected to the classroom experience.” However, Ms. Rivera also recognized that there could be a health risk to this new plan, stressing that “feeling safe is a priority of the school.”
The Hybrid Plus plan was originally supposed to begin on January 11th, following the completely virtual week after winter break. However, due to the increasing number of positive cases among high school students since the holidays, administration chose to remain in a traditional hybrid schedule. Ultimately, this would strengthen mitigation strategies, which would reduce the spread of the virus in school and reduce the likelihood of students having to quarantine because they came in contact with a positive case.According to Principal William Egan, the current goal is to try and get more kids into the building. “Right now we still have more kids than we would like learning remotely, and this reduces the opportunity to interact with your classmates. It doesn’t feel awesome, and this new plan should fix that,” he said. “It will bring our kids into the classroom and make the experience more enjoyable, and you get to see peers that you haven’t really seen all year.” Principal Egan mentioned that the school will be monitoring transmission so that there can be an easy transition back to the 50% Hybrid schedule, with the Y and X Cohort in-person days switched, if necessary. “It is a different opportunity to almost bring life back into the school,” he said. “From our perspective ,we want to give hope, to give the possibility that ultimately we could be back to school full time.”
Mr. Egan felt that the hardest part of adapting to these new plans is that the staff has not been able to plan ahead this year. “But the truth is that everyone wants more students in the building. That’s the whole point of the job,” he said. “People are still adapting, and our staff really does amazing work handling the balance of in person and at home. They would love to plan ahead but our goal is to keep everyone safe and bring more people into the building in a way that is healthy for everyone.”
Dr. Bryan Luizzi, Superintendent of Schools, spoke about how he felt Hybrid Plus would benefit the high school. “All of us want to go back to normal, but right now, this is the new norm,” he said. “The Hybrid Plus Plan can hopefully represent that we are on track to be back to the norms of last year, back to having everyone learn in person and have a healthy, happy, and safe school environment.”
Dr. Luizzi also discussed how the Hybrid Plan came to be. “Ultimately, it took all of us, including Principal Egan and administrators, to really look at what was the safest way to increase the number of students in the school each day. We finally came up with the idea of having four cohorts, which still minimizes contact compared to all students in person, but provides an opportunity for students to learn in person for a majority of the time,” he said. “Many students learn better in person rather than at home, where distractions can get in the way, and this system will be beneficial to them.”
Dr. Luizzi spoke about how he personally felt committed to creating an atmosphere,where students can be safe, connect with their peers, and grow in their learning. “I am steadfast in my commitment to prioritizing health, safety, and wellness above all else,” he said. “It is part of the reason I love my job. I am here for the kids, for the staff, for this community.”
