The last bell of the day rings. I let out a sigh of relief. School has finally ended, and it’s only 2:15. Every class I had today was shortened, making my day much easier, and I find myself less stressed at the end of the day.

Ever since JC switched to an eight-day schedule in 2015, students have started classes 30 minutes late on D days, allowing professional development meetings to take place before school. However, on Aug. 22, the administration announced  that school would end 30 minutes early on D days, rather than starting later in the morning.

At first, I wasn’t quite convinced. Like many other students, I was concerned about after school activities being affected, as the moderators would be attending the faculty meeting while clubs, sports, or rehearsals would usually be taking place. However, it still sounded great to me, since I always wake up and arrive at school around the same time on D days as I would on any other days. Instead, I get to leave early at the end of the day, enabling me  to  just hang out with friends or do homework until club meetings began.

According to Dean of Students and Technology Brian Powell, clubs will most likely not meet after school on D days at all. “Even detention won’t meet on D days because I’m going to have to attend those meetings as well,” he said. “There will have to be some adjustments on D days as far as clubs go. We’re still working out how they’ll work with after school sports.”

Although clubs will not be affected by this transition on D days, as they won’t meet at all, it does seem likely that student athletes will have to wait until after faculty meetings have finished to begin practices.

“We’ll have to see how students respond to the after school time. There will be adults around. Mr. Ireton will be in the building making sure that everyone is doing the right thing. We’ll see where students are congregating and we might do something like close the academic wing so that all students have to be out in other parts of the building while the faculty are meeting. We’re learning, just like you guys every day, so we’ll figure out which system works for us,” Powell said.

After learning  that clubs are not required to meet on D days, I don’t even have to be concerned about waiting for club meetings to begin after school. This is why I would now prefer the early dismissal as opposed to the late morning. It feels better to end my day earlier instead of waiting for it to begin.

There are definitely pros and cons to D days ending at 2:15, but there were also faults to them beginning at 8:30. These kinds of decisions are always going to result in praise and controversy, but I believe that changing D days will be a beneficial decision to both the teachers and students.

Teachers will get more time to discuss upcoming events and issues, while students, even if they are student athletes, will get out of school earlier, even if that does mean waiting for their coaches after school.

I get home and I look at my phone. It’s 2:45, the time I’d normally be leaving school. I get to finish my homework way earlier than usual, and because of this I can relax, which is a rare occurrence. I’m usually up until 11:00 doing homework every night, but tonight I’m able to unwind and do whatever I want to do, just because of an early dismissal.

Caitlin Kennedy is an Entertainment Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.