The Marlborough administration has recently announced its new online and hybrid schedule for the 2021 school year. In an email sent on July 22nd, Marlborough stated that if Los Angeles County is off the monitoring list for two consecutive weeks, Marlborough will switch to a hybrid online and in-person schedule.
Marlborough has decided to use Mondays as a scheduled assessment day in which the first block is dedicated to math and science-based assessments. There are also allocated community times along with two shortened class periods on Monday afternoons that cycle through periods.
“I personally like the Monday block as it allows us to have more flexibility in a time where everything is kind of up in the air,” Annie ‘23 said.
Another change to the distance learning schedule is that classes are moving back to the 70 minute schedule. However, some aspects of the schedule for this year are also similar to the pre-pandemic schedule. For example, school begins at 8:30 a.m. and ends at 3:00 a.m. and there are designated lunches, breaks, and community times.
Marlborough has also taken extra steps to ensure high-quality Zooms and class experience during distance learning. Swivels, which uses Zoom, tracks and captures teachers via audio and video, and has been installed to enhance the online learning experience. BenQ Boards and projectors are also installed, which allows for broadcasting capabilities. Additionally, microphones are in place to pick up teacher’s voices under masks.
When Marlborough shifts to the hybrid model, two cohorts of students will come to campus on alternating weeks for in-person instruction Tuesday through Friday. All of the classes on Monday will remain online and will continue to be dedicated to math and science assessments along with community time. The entire campus will not be in school at the same time for most of the 2021 year. Marlborough additionally stated that they would be keeping 7th grade and seniors together if schools reopen for hybrid learning as opposed to splitting these grades up.
“I am glad that Marlborough is allowing seniors to stay together since this is our class year. It is also sad that we won’t have a traditional last year but at least our grade will be together,” El ‘21 said.
