In March, the Board of Education announced their decision to create a new cohort that merges existing in-person cohorts A and B into cohort D. Starting in late March, students will have the choice of attending school in person every week as a member of cohort D.

In October 2020, the board agreed upon hybrid learning which allowed students a chance to choose between attending school in-person or remotely. Due to concerns over social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic, the district created separate cohorts. All students attending school remotely are in cohort C, while students who signed up for in-person learning were initially separated into cohorts A and B, taking turns weekly to go to school physically. 

As the district gained better control over the pandemic environment, a reimagined cohort D began development. This new, in-person cohort provides a chance for students to go to school every week instead of once every other week.

The separate cohort D was first introduced as an entirely in-person option.

“Cohort D started in November, and the first part of cohort D was [to] identify students who were struggling academically, socially, [or] emotionally and to bring them back into person [quickly],” said Jared Warren, Acting Principal of PHS. 

While the initial purpose of cohort D being entirely in-person was to help struggling students, more students expressed their willingness to go to school more consistently in a February survey sent out by the school. The merging of cohorts A and B into cohort D was announced in a recent board meeting, giving students the freedom to attend school in person every day while reserving the choice of going in person once every other week. 

“This will create some form of normalcy for kids to hopefully get into a routine coming back to school, seeing their friends face to face,” Warren said.

The district hopes that bringing more students back to school will have a positive effect on mental health and improve academic performances as well as the ability to focus for some students.

“I'm more inclined to do the work because [when] I get home, I get distracted a lot by [things] around me,” said Anika Simons ’23, who has signed up to be placed in cohort D.

Chiara Lavino ’23, a current member of cohort D, believes this will be beneficial to the school’s learning and teaching systems during COVID-19.

“If there [are] more people in the class, there [are] more in-person discussions that come easier,” said Lavino. “On Zoom whenever we [have] breakout rooms, most of the time people just turn off their cameras. But in-person can force people to actually discuss and do the work all together,” Lavino said.

Despite the improvements to students’ school experience that the merge will provide, safety risks also arise as more students will come to school at the same time. However, students expressed confidence in the school’s COVID-prevention protocol. 

“Everyone does a good job of keeping their masks on, only going outside to eat or drink, and trying to keep six feet distance,” Simons said.

In order to provide a safe environment for students and staff, the school is trying to coordinate more supervision to ensure all protocol is being followed.

“The number one thing you can do in school for safety is obviously [to] have protocols and guidelines and rules, but then we also need … adult supervision. Teachers are going to be instructed in the building … if they see students in the hallways who are [not] social distancing to give them a friendly reminder,” Warren said.

The cohort merge is the next step in the district’s goal to fully reopen schools by September.