Community time is arguably the most valuable part of the school day for a Torrey. Whether it’s spent studying, participating in a flex activity or advisory, attending an assembly, or just relaxing with friends, flex time is undeniably the backbone of non-academic activities at Country Day.

     Naturally, shifting flex time from 9:45 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. sparked controversy in the Country Day community. LJCDS has tried to have community time at the end of the day in the past but found that most preferred the 9:45 a.m. time. The sudden revert to 2:30 p.m. is due to a recent uptick in early dismissals. Many students are having to leave school early due to doctor’s appointments, extracurricular activities, and, most commonly, sports games. As the impact of early dismissals increased, LJCDS staff decided it made more sense to move community time back to the afternoon. The choice will be re-evaluated by the end of the first semester and again at the end of the third quarter.

     So, how has the change been received by the Country Day community so far? 

     Some teachers say it’s great. Students’ sharpness often wears throughout the day, so the new schedule improves students’ academic performance by keeping rigorous courses as early in the day as possible and pushing what is essentially free time for most students to the end of the day.

     That being said, many students dislike the change. Common objections include: 

• It is harder to bring food to advisory

     It is customary to bring snacks to advisory community times. For many students, having advisory pushed to the end of the day means hauling snacks to all your classes throughout the entire school day. This also limits what foods can be brought since foods that don’t stay fresh for long and temperature-sensitive foods will spoil by the end of the day.

• Lunch has been pushed too early.

     Since class times have stayed the same, the missing community time before lunch caused upper school lunchtime to be bumped up from 11:51 a.m. to 11:11 a.m. For reference, the average time for lunch in America tends to be from 12:00 to 2:00 pm (source: Immihelp).

• Assembly is out in the sun.

     The sun is often at its peak in California during the afternoon from around 2 to 3 p.m. Because school assemblies take place in an outdoor amphitheater, students are placed directly under scorching sun rays for up to 45 minutes before being dismissed.

• There is less cram time on test days.

  When community time occurred in the morning, students often took advantage of their free time to study for tests later in the day. Now that community time takes place after all classes finish, there is no longer an opportunity to use that time as a last-minute study session.

• Low energy

     Being enthusiastic during flex times is harder since students have already attended a day’s worth of classes.

     Still, some students admit the change is starting to grow on them. According to Shayla Nazeri ’26, end-of-the-day community time makes the school day more bearable since students finish their classes earlier. It gives students a chunk of time at school, where they do not need to worry about their next class. According to Rafa Timmerman ’26, end-of-the-day community time helps athletes miss fewer classes. It takes away the stress of having to worry about making up tests, missing homework, and missing classroom instruction.

     Whether end-of-the-day community time was a positive or negative change clearly depends on the person. For a conclusive answer on what time the administration considers the best time for the students, we will have to wait until the 3rd quarter.