Staff Editorial
EA should return to the online schedule for the virtual week of January 4th. After going virtual following Thanksgiving, EA resumed the specially-designed virtual schedule from 8:45 to 2:25 with 45-minute blocks. However, when the school announced that the Middle and Lower School would return to campus for the weeks of December 7th and December 14th while the Upper School remains virtual, they also announced that the Upper School would adopt the in-person schedule to stay in sync with the Middle School and to accommodate the crossover teachers. Though this decision does have valid reasoning while the Middle School is in person, after only one day, it is clear that this schedule is problematic for virtual students. EA has already announced that the entire school will be virtual for the week of January 4th, and the school must return to the online schedule to protect student health and wellbeing.
Seven hours is too long for students to sit in front of their computer. The virtual schedule was created to protect students from hours sitting on Zoom, and for EA to return to a schedule with 45-70 minute blocks contradicts their original goal. In addition to staring at their computer for school, students spend hours on their laptops at night to complete their homework. This is far too many hours online, as research has shown that extended amounts of screen time lead to fatigue, headaches, strained eyesight, and disturbances in sleep. The administration may believe that these student health risks are a necessary trade off in order to have more class time, but this is faulty reasoning. Because students don’t have the same engagement levels online that they do in a classroom, few students are actually able to remain focused for a 70 minute block, and productivity in the last twenty minutes decreases significantly. Therefore, the extra minutes of class time negatively impact students’ health and add little educational benefit.
Additionally, changing back to the old virtual schedule with a start time of 8:45am rather than 8:09am would give students a very beneficial extra half hour of sleep. Studies have shown that this extra half hour can increase academic performance, emotional stability, and overall happiness. Adding an extra half hour of sleep for students at EA is more important than ever, as increased screen time will likely increase sleep disturbances. Considering the lack of productivity on Zoom after a certain point, there is no reason not to give students this important health benefit.
The entire school will be virtual the week of January 4th, so there are no issues of crossover teachers or syncing with in-person students. By resuming the virtual schedule for the week of January 4th and any subsequent virtual weeks, EA will restore its original goal of protecting student health while still maximizing productivity.