Launching with the start of the next school year, Mr. Barstow and Ms. Coleman are teaming up to create two separate, primarily iPad-based semester electives for upperclassmen: Contemporary World Affairs and Bioethics, respectively.

“It’s the logical next step in iPad, one to one, learning,” said Mr. De Ieso, Vice President of Academics, in an interview about the hybrid classes. “It will come from the teachers’ creation … with help from the tech department.”

Hybrid classes, which are sometimes also referred to as blended classes, will utilize apps such as Google Drive, Schoology, Notability, Nearpod, and Socrative.

Though it will be built into a student’s schedule, Mr. De Ieso says, “Students may also just take the class on their own time.” For this period in the day, a student will be able to sit in the library, or the new main hallway seating areas. The maximum number of students per class will be 30.

“Probably about 80% will be online,” Ms. Coleman says about her new class. “[It will consist of] interacting online, discussion posts, putting up projects online, homework, watching videos, and we will be meeting once a month in person.”

At the start of this school year, many upperclassmen experienced difficulties with their schedules. Many were put into classes they did not sign up for. For example, one senior was not put into a math or science class, even though both had been forecasted for. Instead, the administration gave her an Honors Pass and a Teacher Assistant. She was not the only case, and both Mr. De Ieso and Ms. Coleman addressed this issue, saying it was due to the inflexibility of the schedule. They said that with hybrid classes students will be allowed to take these classes during any period of the day, allowing flexibility for people with classes of which there is only one section of, which include Honors German 3, AP Spanish 5, and AP Chemistry.

Other than flexibility, Ms. Coleman adds that “The reality is that you’re probably going to take an online class in college.” Ms Coleman believes it will be important to develop the skills for future success in an online course.

When one student was asked about the new hybrid classes, senior Max Fajardo said “I like that it’s still blended, and not fully online. And that we are not paying some textbook company for an online course, but rather trusting our own teachers to create the hybrid class.”

“If you have an iPad, and you have Schoology and Google Drive and some time management,” says Mr. De Ieso, “you will succeed.”

“I’m super excited for it” Ms. Coleman says. “I think it will be super neat.”