Mod-ifications to the Athenian Campus

It would be difficult not to notice the four portable classrooms situated directly behind the East Lawn. For those who came to the Athenian Upper School after COVID-19 hit, they might seem like a standard, expected feature of the campus, but for those who left in March 2020 and came back at the end of the year, they appeared to have simply sprung up with little explanation.

Most are aware that the reason these classrooms were installed on campus was to create more space to hold classes so that the number of people in each class is lower, and thus, safer in terms of COVID.

“When COVID hit, we had to reduce the class numbers to no more than 12,” said Gabe Del Real, Academic Dean. “In some cases, we could push it to 13 or 14, but only with some of the bigger classrooms…That's why we put in the Mods temporarily.”

Gabe is in charge of scheduling, which means he has to figure out where and when every class needs to happen. “The puzzle is to try to figure out where to put all the classes that we’re offering into spaces that will allow the number of students in those classes to fit, and will allow some consistency in terms of teachers having spaces,” Gabe said.

However, classrooms are not the most important consideration when it comes to scheduling.

“Classroom assignments, interestingly, are the last thing I consider when it comes to scheduling students,” Gabe said. “It's mostly about having classes in periods that will accommodate the students to get the classes they need. Then I find the spaces for them.”

Gabe further commented that the modular classrooms, or “mods,” are temporary. Discussions with Contra Costa County led to an agreement of a temporary installation that would last two years. Even when allowed normal class sizes, losing the mods will provide an extra challenge for the school.

“I'm anticipating that next year, we're…going to need to use rooms like the Urban Conference Room and some of the peripheral classrooms—House Three, House Four—for classes,” Gabe said. “And those classrooms really don't accommodate big classes as well as the Knolls, or certainly as the Mods. So that's going to be a challenge for us.”

Athenian had been changing on a large scale even before COVID with Phase 1 of what was known as the Master Plan, which involved building the Knoll classrooms, the new Kate & Dyke Brown Hall, Carter Innovation Studio, and Commons, as well as expanding the student body.

“In theory, the Knolls were supposed to allow us to stop using the peripheral classrooms,” Gabe said. “And to some degree, they have. We no longer use House 11 or House 10. We no longer use House Five, Six, Seven, or Eight. And even though the classrooms hold more [students], the number of sections hasn't been reduced, because the overall number of students has increased.”

The Mods also affect Athenian beyond just providing space to hold classes.

“[They’re] four classrooms that are close to the center of campus, and so it…does make the East Lawn more of an area of focus, which is nice,” Gabe said.

They were, however, by no means without their disadvantages.

“They ruin the viewshed,” Gabe said. “In principle, the reason why we built the new Main Hall the way we did was so that we would have this sweeping view of the mountains, and…through nobody's fault, we had to put these less-than-aesthetic buildings in there.”

They also have disadvantages in their functioning as classrooms.

“They're spaces, but a classroom is more than just a box,” Gabe said. “Most of what makes a classroom work well is the furniture in it. And so the space is great, but the accommodations in them are less than optimal.”

However, the amount of space has proven helpful to some instructors, like humanities teacher Marty Rubio.

“These classrooms are huge in comparison, so I can move desks around a lot into different formations…it’s easy to do that part of it,” Marty said.

For all their faults and attributes, overall, the mods have merely been a temporary adjustment to accommodate COVID safety protocols.

“I’m really impressed with the way the institution has handled these changes,” Marty said.