School is Reopening

by Aurora Prehara, Staff Writer

Riverside County announced on Tuesday 3/16 that COVID-19 cases have reached the right number to move into the red tier. This means that now middle schools and high schools can reopen. For the Desert Sands School District, hybrid learning will start on March 29th for both middle schools and high schools. At Palm Desert High School teachers and staff have been talking about what the hybrid model will look like, and a plan has been finalized that will be implemented starting the 29th. Three cohorts have been created for the hybrid model of learning; Cohort A, B, and DL (distance learning). On Monday and Tuesday of every week Cohort A will be on campus learning in person, on Wednesday everyone will be at home doing classes via zoom so the school can be deep cleaned, and on Thursday and Friday Cohort B will be on campus learning in person. For Monday and Tuesday while Cohort A is on-campus, Cohort B will be attending classes on zoom and the same goes for Thursday and Friday, as Cohort B is on-campus Cohort A will be attending class through zoom. Students who chose to stay distance learning will be at home every day doing classes through zoom. Being in cohorts is not the only change that is a part of this hybrid learning model, Palm Desert High School has changed the bell schedule to a block schedule. On Monday and Thursday, students will attend their 1st, 3rd, and 5th periods either on zoom or in-person depending on your cohort. On Wednesday students will go to all 6 of their classes and there is an hour in the morning before 1st period for office hours. For Tuesday and Friday, students will attend their 2nd, 4th, and 6th-period classes either on zoom or in-person depending on the cohort they are apart of. This block schedule allows the school day to end at 12:30 so students will not be on campus for lunch. The school fears that students will congregate at lunchtime without masks if they stayed on campus. Hopefully, the transition to the hybrid model will go smoothly and now students will get a chance to be on campus before this school year ends.