With the start of the 2021 school year, there have been some changes to the daily schedule and regular life at McQuaid Jesuit–including a move back to three lunches and juniors being allowed to leave during certain free periods.  Yet one of the biggest changes has been to Flex Time.

Last year, students were allowed to leave after fourth period but could stay for help if they needed it. With the start of this year, Flex has become mandatory for everyone except seniors.

The school has also shut down the DiMarco Field House, the Ryan Gymnasium, and restricted the cafeteria and common areas, leaving students with few places to go except classrooms, which can cause disruptions for teachers and students trying to do work.

“I think that it’s probably around 30-50 percent are not doing work. Some of them are just hanging out,” math teacher Mr. Matthew Rybak said.  “The unfortunate part is with some kids hanging out, and with my student cap in my room, there are some days where I feel like I have to turn away students that want to do work.”

Some students feel that opening the gym and field house would give students places to go without being in classes disturbing those who need help.

“Students should be allowed to leave, or give us places to go like the gym or field house,” junior Rocco Menna said.

Many believe that opening the field house and gym would take away noise from classrooms, allowing students that need to work to have greater concentration and better focus.

“I think that for kids that want to do work, going to a teacher’s room is the best place,” Mr. Rybak said.  I think having a place for kids to go that don’t have work to do would be great, but I’ve heard from other kids that the cafeteria, where you don’t have to do work, gets really loud.”