It is no surprise that the COVID-19 pandemic has introduced a large array of obstacles for educational institutions across the United States. Riverdale, like many other New York City area schools, faced the challenge of preparing for the 2020-2021 school year in the epicenter of a global crisis.

However, with sudden change comes growth. When students first arrived at the Hill campus in early September, Riverdale created a new schedule that would transform the way students and faculty learn and interact on a day-to-day basis.

Preparation for the hybrid schedule began far earlier than the community would expect. Research and discussions began as soon as early June.

Mr. Kevin Bailey, a math teacher and Academic Dean, was one of the many people consulted about the construction of the hybrid schedule. He recalls that the administration was faced with one fundamental question: “How do we deliver good teaching and learning, while building community and while keeping everybody really safe?” Competing priorities made themselves evident early in the process.

Mr. Dominic A.A. Randolph, the Head of School, assembled

numerous groups of people, each tasked with a distinct aspect of the school year, including grading, safety precautions, and other school- wide logistics.

As Mr. Bailey confirms, “it was really a team approach,” which ultimately, through the consideration of different models and strategies, led to a schedule that balanced all the aspects of our new school life as “best [they] could.”

Today, students and teachers alike are witnessing how the new schedule completely alters the way we work and learn. Classes, which meet three times a week instead of four, have been made to last 50 minutes each, with ten minutes in between to serve as breaks. Students are encouraged to stand up and get away from the screen in an attempt to escape the effects of prolonged screen use, which include fatigue and eye-strain.

This schedule change inherently alters the frequency of assessments. Plus, since only a few grades attend school in person each day, a huge challenge with the schedule has been multi-grade level classes.

For some students, this redistribution of class time has been quite helpful. Sophomore Grace Haddad said that despite the lack of interaction between her and her peers during class transitions, she appreciates the thoughtfulness behind this initiative: “I like the system of the 50 minutes classes and then the ten minute break...If it was hour after hour, it would add up.”

For others, the ten minutes between classes can grow cumbersome. Most students complete homework to reserve more time in the afternoon for sports and free time. As a result, students will employ the majority of their “breaks” to work behind a screen.

“Ultimately, I do want to have some sort of normal school experience... I always kind of fantasized about high school being [the place] where I would get the most experiences, and this is definitely not what I expected as a little girl, or even a year ago,” Haddad affirms.

Notwithstanding the hardships of navigating quarantine in physical isolation, Haddad is thankful that she can foster connections with her friends. When Mr. Tom Taylor, the new Head of Upper School, was asked about concerns regarding curriculum and general learning in quarantine, he said, “I think so much of what we do is not just about the topics that we cover, but inculcating within students habits of mind and ways of thinking that go beyond the sort of topic of study specifically.”

Mr. Taylor, Mr. Bailey, and Haddad, like others, fortunately have found ways to stay grounded and emotionally in-touch with their peers while socially distant. Yet, Riverdale is met with another impending question: how much longer will we remain dependent on these measures? It is unknown how long hybrid learning will remain in effect. What we do know is that among masks, social distancing, and hybrid learning, resilience is one of our greatest resources.