Stuyvesant Administration Renames Homeroom as Administrative Distribution Periods

Homeroom periods were originally created for announcements, the distribution of materials, and socialization amongst students during the school day. However, this tradition has withered away as of this school year. Homerooms have now been renamed “administrative distribution” periods and are only set to occur between third and fourth period on key holidays and distribution days. The change was first communicated to Big Sibs over the summer and later confirmed to the student body in school-wide updates and emails at the start of the year.

In previous years, students would participate in a variety of activities in homeroom, such as icebreakers and short team-building games. These brief meetings were designed to promote student wellness and to connect with classmates, but often fell short of that goal for many. “We tried for years to create a homeroom experience where students would be able to engage in social activities, to help them get to know their classmates, as well as activities that would be beneficial to the students’ social-emotional health, such as guided meditations,” Assistant Principal of Pupil Personnel Services Casey Pedrick said in an email interview. 

However, these designated activities didn’t resonate with the majority of students, as demonstrated by unengaged students scrolling on their phones. “During homeroom, I would really just chat with the other kids in my class or scroll on my phone while the teacher talk[ed],” sophomore Thehan Abyweera said. 

The removal of homerooms came as a shock to many students. “My first reaction was confusion, since homerooms are the main way the Big Sibs can help Little Sibs, so I was confused about how we would be able to do much without homerooms. Homerooms let us talk to Little Sibs and check up on them in person, which is completely different from emails or messages,” junior and Big Sib Rhys Black said. “I think homerooms helped break the ice between me and other students. I was pretty nervous when I came to the school, but the Big Sibs would make us talk to other students. I really think they were important and future students will miss out without them.”

This sense of stability has been crucial for underclassmen’s transition into Stuyvesant’s overwhelming environment. “These are especially formative sessions for freshmen, who get to know their peers in homeroom and grow with them over four years,” junior and Big Sib Stella Krajka said.

On the other hand, some students expressed neutrality on the reduced presence of homerooms. “I think [there won’t be much of a difference, since] many people around me didn’t find the information helpful,” sophomore Gianna Guenther said. “It wasn’t that useful for me nor did it play a huge impact as a freshman.”

For freshmen, homerooms were also utilized as a way to get to know their Big Sibs and meet upperclassmen to rely on throughout the school year. With their removal, the 2025-2026 Big Sib Chairs re-emphasized the sincerity of Big Sib-Little Sib connection in each homeroom rather than reliance on these designated periods. “While homerooms were a way for Big Sibs to connect with Little Sibs, the most important part of the program was not [the] homerooms, but [the] people. Instead, we see homeroom as more like a space for Big Sibs to get introduced to their Little Sibs. We trust and believe in the individuals we have chosen to reach out and be a role model not only for incoming freshmen but all individuals in the Stuyvesant community,” senior and Big Sib Chair Catherine Chan said in an email interview.

The Big Sib program has expanded to provide new opportunities for freshmen to form new bonds and get involved in the Stuyvesant community. “We will continue holding our annual events, such as the Big Sib X [Student Union] picnic on September [12] and the Big Sib/Little Sib dance. Currently we are also considering having a year-long homeroom cohort [versus] cohort competition that will be composed of after-school and online competitions where the points cumulate,” senior and Big Sib Chair Ellie Mak said in an email interview.

The Big Sibs and Little Sibs now have fresh means of communication outside of the assistance of homeroom. “We also created more ways for homerooms to communicate with each other and create their own culture via official homeroom Instagrams and our homeroom poster competitions. Adding onto culture, these pages will stay for all four years to be a record of their homeroom and along these lines, we have also thought about creating time capsules to be given back to [Little Sibs] in senior year,” Mak said. 

Starting this school year, homeroom days will be sparsely scattered throughout the calendar as needed. “As a school, we have administrative tasks that are served by holding a homeroom period, such as when we need to distribute OMNY cards. As a community, there are times when we want to come together around an event, such as Stuyloween. Therefore, we will hold homeroom sessions as needed,” Pedrick said. 

Now that students have realized the reduced presence of homerooms, some highlight how much they valued the tradition. “While not having homerooms won’t have any devastating impacts on Stuyvesant students, it [was] a nice bonus to [have]—I hadn’t really realized how much I appreciated it until I found out it was gone,” Krajka said.

While the loss of homerooms has left some feeling nostalgic, others see it as an opportunity to reimagine how Stuyvesant fosters community. Stuyvesant faculty recognized the removal of homerooms as a new beginning for the school. “On the positive side, this pushes us to get more creative about how we welcome and engage freshmen, and I like a good challenge,” school counselor and Big Sibs Faculty Advisor Sandra Brandan said.