Riverdale Installs Six Spacious New Classrooms in Gym
With increased space and airflow, these lower gym classrooms are ideal for safe indoor learning.
Lucia Zambetti / The Riverdale Review
During a school year fraught with uncertainty as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, much has changed at Riverdale, including the facilities on campus. After students returned from a month-long winter break, their classes may have been moved from locations in Hackett or the 9/10 building to new classrooms set up in the lower gym. At the end of January, when students entered the completed gym with its rows of towering maroon and light grey curtains, they may not have known the full story behind the creation of these innovative classrooms.
Riverdale hired a theatrical company to set up the classroom curtain barriers. Since regular classrooms are unable to fit an entire class while simultaneously maintaining social distancing between students and teachers, the gym classrooms were built to reduce the number of classes being separated into two rooms. The gym classrooms can fit 18 desks and also ensure that all students and faculty stay six feet apart. Additionally, in the spring, the administration hopes to increase the number of students on campus each day, and the classrooms in the gym were built to account for the increased need for space.
Mr. Tom Taylor, the Head of the Upper School, explained that “in comparison to the normal classrooms, in the gym, there is a higher air volume compared to individual person ratio.” Essentially, since the ceiling is so high and the size of the gym is so vast, there is greater airflow, which reduces the airborne spread of the virus. Moreover, as part of the recent gym renovation, a MERV-13 filtration system was installed. This system is optimal for air purification and is another way to reduce the risk of contracting the virus.
Junior Samara Weissman explained some of the benefits of the new classrooms in the gym. “It’s easier for teachers to engage kids and for the kids to learn when everyone is in the same place because it [is] difficult to hear the kids [when they are] in the other classroom,” said Weissman. Weissman also noted that having a television in each gym classroom makes it easier to engage with the remote students because the in-person students can see the Zoom page projected onto the screen.
Nevertheless, there has been a learning curve in these classrooms, particularly regarding noise. Weissman explained that “the gym can be very noisy if the teacher in the adjacent classroom is talking loudly.” The school is trying to mitigate this problem; over President’s Day weekend, Riverdale installed sound insulation in between the curtains. Mr. Dominic Randolph, the Head of School, believes that the administration “understands [this] may not fully fix the problem, but it should diminish it.”
There are even more changes to come in the spring. While Mr. Taylor does not “predict that the underlying schedule will change, [the administration] certainly hopes to increase the number of days each grade spends on campus.” Of course, this will be informed by Covid-19 transmission rates in the area as well as CDC and New York State guidelines, so students should know more as spring break approaches. Riverdale’s circus-like tents from the fall are, in fact, going to be set up again, and the gym classrooms will remain intact. According to Mr. Randolph, the administration is planning to add more trailers and build four temporary classroom spaces on the tennis courts in March. This should further reduce the number of students in separate classrooms due to social distancing guidelines.
Riverdale’s administration has put a lot of thought into the upcoming schedule and structural changes. Their hard work will only improve the learning atmosphere while, most importantly, keeping our community safe.
