The EHHS administrative has been preparing for next school year by looking at the schedule. In particular, Principal Vincent DeNuzzo wanted to explore ‘‘whether or not flex block as is current in the middle of the day was being maximized by students.’’

Our current schedule has been in place in a similar fashion for the last 5 years. Flex block takes place between blocks two and three. Students are assigned to a flex group and can schedule office hours with teachers on a rotating basis.

The EHHS administrative team wanted to explore whether or not there would be an impact if they moved Flex Block to a different part of the school day. The administration had conversations about shifts between the morning and afternoon, like after the 1st and 2nd block. They held a trial period during May where we had Flex block before first period.

Mr. DeNuzzo and The Comet worked to gather feedback from our students on how the trial period went, so they can make the decision on the bell schedule for the fall.

The results were overall pretty split when we spoke with people one-on-one.

Those Who Prefer Morning Flex:

• Security Joe : ‘‘It’s a great thing, it gives you a little period before you start the day to get a good jump start and wake up to ur day.’’
• Fred Parcesepe : ‘‘If you don’t want to come kids can get an extra 45 minutes to sleep, if you want or need help just come in. The buses give transportation, it is easier to manage because there are less kids and then there is a lot less roaming around in the halls. Coming along with attendance in block one is better by far, so overall teacher wise i get more work done.’’
• Security Dom: ‘‘Gives kids the chance to get into school and eliminates the walking around during the day.’’
• Alec Richards : ‘‘I get to come in later when I don’t have office hours scheduled, and I can prepare for classes.

Those Who Prefer Flex Mid-Day:

• Lily Esposito: ‘‘I like flex in the mid-day because I like the break in between classes.’’
• Quatourine Harris: ‘‘Its too early to have flex at the beginning, I feel like the first period I can get it done with and same with second and then I can go in the middle and give my head a break, then go finish my last two classes.’’
• Daltaya Boomer: ‘‘I like flex in mid-day due to it giving me a break, I feel a lot less overwhelmed and feel like I personally don’t have so much on my head to do, it also gives me a better time to finish work if I have to, because with flex in the morning my head isn’t really focused straight to just doing homework.’

Mr. DeNuzzo sent out a survey to all students. 341 students responded and Mr. DeNuzzo will use this information as a part of the decision-making process with the rest of the EHHS administrative team. 82.1% of responding students feel that moving flex to the morning makes the day more relaxed, and 4.4% of responding students feel like the morning flex is more stressful. Only 17.9% of responding students reported that they use flex to get extra help in the morning. 13.5% of students often miss morning flex, and 6.4% of students feel like morning flex hurts their focus more than having it in the afternoon. 17 % of students do not feel like it matters between the morning and the afternoon.

The bell schedule for the 2026 – 2027 school year has not yet been set, but Mr. DeNuzzo is eager to review student attendance and grades along with these survey results in order to make that decision. The goal is to maximize students’ time during the school day in order to help every student succeed.