Following the Peddie community’s return from winter break, a temporary schedule was enforced to accommodate the growing number of COVID-19 cases in the Hightstown area. The temporary schedule extended the regular lunch block by combining DMX, Community Meeting and Chapel. 

In addition to the new and longer lunch period, underclassmen and upperclassmen were assigned different lunchtimes to allow for a greater distance between unmasked students in the dining hall. A few more adjustments were also made in the dining hall, including only six students permitted to sit at one table rather than the traditional ten seats offered at the start of the year. 

Peddie students seem to have contrasting opinions over the tweaked schedule. Claire Chen ’24 spoke in favor of the tweaked schedule, saying that the new schedule is “necessary for safety during COVID times” and that Peddie students “can easily adapt to the minor inconveniences.” 

While Chen’s positive sentiments are encouraging, Seohyung Lee ’23 shared her own take on the new schedule. In opposition to sophomore Claire Chen, she does “not see how [the schedule] is helping the number of [COVID-19] cases at all. It does not reduce student interactions and is mentally taxing.” She also added that the new schedule is not worth “sacrificing [Peddie’s] late start Wednesdays, Saturdays and DMX.”

While Lee mourns Peddie’s old schedule and its many quirks, Carolina Lopez-Watt ’25 mourns the loss of DMX between classes, as it “gives [her] a much-needed break.” Prior to the temporary schedule, the DMX block was used for club meetings, extra-help sessions and a variety of other school activities. With the combination of DMX and lunch, clubs found it difficult to meet because of the conflicting lunch schedules between underclassmen and upperclassmen. In addition, teachers had to modify their extra-help sessions because the DMX block was combined with the lunch block. 

Although Peddie students have valid, yet conflicting perspectives on the temporary schedule, Associate Head of School Catherine Rodrigue announced that the temporary schedule would soon be terminated, and Peddie students would be returning to the normal Peddie schedule. Even though the temporary schedule lasted a mere few weeks, the difference in opinion of Peddie students was interesting to witness.