By David Brennan I
The unprecedented coronavirus pandemic has caused schools across the world to close their doors and forced them to come up with new ways to educate their students—Roxbury Latin is no different. Students left campus for Spring Break following class on March 11, and could not return for rest of the school year. Meanwhile, the remainder of the curriculum is being finished virtually on Zoom. Instead of gathering for homeroom each morning, students just open up their computers and click on the Zoom link for the teacher of their first class. These links then bring the students into the virtual space where classes are conducted. While it is certainly a change from normal, this new reality has worked relatively well over the first several weeks. Besides a welcome shift from the original schedule, everything seems to have gone according to plan.
I recently reached out to Mr. Chappell to get his take on how the transition to virtual learning was going for the school as a whole. He was happy with the way that the school was able to make the switch quickly and has been impressed with the flexibility of the school community, saying, “What has worked very well is everyone’s willingness to be flexible and patient as we figured out what would work best for our community.”
As for what has not been going well, some natural happenings simply cannot be replicated in an online setting. All sports and other activities have been cancelled, there are no longer conversations happening in the Refectory or the Study Center, and daily homeroom is no more. However, Mr. Chappell does believe that everyone is doing the best that he can in a difficult situation and that the experience has improved as teachers and students have continued to adapt to the new reality of teaching online.
While it is obviously not as enjoyable as being on campus, the school’s new system has been running smoothly. And it is the best solution to keep everyone safe and healthy while also active and engaged academically. The only thing that we as students can do now is to try and make the most of what we have and hope to be back for real in the fall.
