On April 30, Upper School Director Samantha Coyne-Donnel held a division meeting for upper schoolers to announce the new schedule effective in the 2014-2015 school year. Middle School Director Karen Pavliscak gave the news to grades 6-8 on Monday, April 28.

Next year will be the pilot year for the new schedule. A Scheduling Task Force comprised of faculty, administrators and students will evaluate how the schedule works and make further adjustments if necessary.

Many aspects of the schedule will stay the same. Days will still be labeled A-G and follow the same rotation. School will still begin at 7:50 a.m. and end at 3:00 p.m.  Each day will still consist of five periods, and all students will continue to be enrolled in seven classes total.

However, one significant change will be the addition of free time for students to catch up on work, participate in orchestra or choir, peer academic work support (PAWS), student council, and other activities.  For a complete list, see right.

Coyne-Donnel encouraged upper school students to use this time to “take a breath” rather than “add more.”

This free period will be called “x-block” and will occur between second and third period— from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.— only on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  To accommodate for this extra hour, all periods on these days will be 60 minutes instead of 65 minutes long.  In addition, period three will be shortened to the length of a normal period.

On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, the schedule will be the same as it is currently. Classes will meet at the normal times and meetings and advisory will remain in the 10:10 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. block. On Mondays, upper school will have advisory and middle school will have a division meeting.  On Wednesday, upper school will have a division meeting and middle school will have advisory.  On Fridays, both middle and upper school will have advisory. Family Fridays will still occur, but only every other week.

Both juniors and seniors will have the ability to go across Sunset Blvd. during “x-block.”

When asked her opinion on these changes, sophomore Sarah Wagner ’16 said, “This sounds like a great way to give students more free time. I think that it will help students academically and socially.”