After a full month of online learning, West Essex students finally returned back to school for the week of Oct. 5. The catch is, only a handful of students come in per day according to their cohort. The student body is split into three different cohorts: red, blue, and green. For the first week, the red group came in on Monday, blue went on Tuesday, and green came on Thursday.

Students from each grade level had mixed opinions on this new system. 

“I like the system because it still allows us to experience going to school and learning together,” junior Victoria Roccasanta said. 

“I like it a lot, it was really nice to see people in school again and meet the teachers in person,” senior Amanda Jones said. 

While some students enjoy the new plan, others find it disorienting. 

“I wish we went to school more often instead of just once a week,” freshman Serenity Pagano said. “It made the introduction to high school harder.” 

“I prefer virtual, students weren’t socially distanced in the hallways and my friends are all in other cohorts,” junior James Ignacio said. 

Aside from their opinions, some students had new ideas that could enhance this new way of learning. 

“I think they should try to switch up who’s in each cohort every month if we are doing this for awhile because I want to see different people that aren’t in my cohort right now,” junior Trinity Pagano said.