New schedule puts Community Time back to the morning, while the add/drop period will last only three days for most students.

When families received the 2017-18 school calendar in the mail, some students noticed an important detail on the inside cover: the school day schedule has changed yet again.

The most notable change is Community Time moving back to the morning. There were multiple factors that went into this decision, including moving lunch later in the day, chapel in the morning on Mondays, and more time for the students to meet with their teachers, according to Dean of Students Mr. Tim Dougherty.

“There’s more time to see their teachers in the morning before they’ve seen them [in class],” Dougherty said.

Assistant Head of School for Academics Mr. Patrick Sillup confirmed that a “driving factor” for the change was that students needed to talk to teachers earlier in the day.

“Having it in the afternoon was challenging because, [a student would say] ‘My day starts, and I really think I need to see a teacher for this upcoming assessment, exam, quiz, or paper but Community Time isn’t until the afternoon,’” Sillup said.

A committee of teachers and administrators including Assistant Head of School for Student Leadership Mr. Ron Algeo worked on the schedule change. The outgoing senior class was also consulted.

“[We] did senior town halls. We would go and meet with them during the second quarter and get feedback from them,” Dougherty said.

During the first three days of school, there will be a special schedule due to a new add/drop policy. The classes will be at the same time for three days, so it is easier for students to figure out which classes to add and drop without getting left behind.

“It was challenging because in an extended add/drop period [a teacher] could start teaching, start the course, and then a calendar week, week and a half, or two weeks later, here comes a new face,” Sillup said.

Sophomore Jaden Vogelman had an experience with the add/drop period last year.

“Last year I remember trying to drop a class but on the tenth day thinking about it [too much time had passed],” Vogelman said.

Sillup knows that there will be times when a student misses the first three days of school, or the preview days.

“There’s going to be situation, maybe [a student] was ill the first week of school. Am I going to tell that student that they can’t engage in the new add/drop? Absolutely not,” Sillup said.

Although Sillup knows this new system won’t work for every student, he believes it will for most.

“Do I think this is going to happen at 100 percent? No, but I think we can get pretty close.”