Most former CHS9 students fondly remember the campus hour block lunch (HBL) as a time for productivity, learning and friends.
For the 2025-26 school year, CHS9 has introduced flex time, a 27-minute advisory period similar to E-Time at Coppell Middle School North, Wrangler Time at Coppell Middle School West and Beast Time at Coppell Middle School East.
“In the spring, we got a committee of teachers together,” CHS9 Principal Dr. Greg Axelson said. “We asked them what they think is working well to make sure we maintain, and what maybe is not working so well about HBL.”
The campus now utilizes two blocked lunches during its third and seventh period, followed by a campus-wide flex time period.
“There were some concerns related to having enough space for all the students to eat in the cafeteria and having a safe, quiet place for everybody,” Dr. Axelson said. “In the new model, every student has a classroom to be in, while still offering intervention, tutoring and school clubs.”
Teachers can host a variety of activities for students that sign up to be in their classroom. Student organizations such as TSA, HOSA, DECA, Leo Club and Student Council can take advantage of this time.
“I don’t see a whole lot of difference between HBL and flex time, since we’re still getting the same amount of time for meetings,” CHS9 Student Council sponsor Shanna Chang said. “Having that set schedule for us to work together on clubs or activities helps.”
Students sign up for the rooms they wish to attend through the Enriching Students website.
“The system provides a clear opportunity for students to attend club meetings, but they’re also a nice way for students to look in Enriching Students and see which clubs are happening,” Dr. Axelson said. “It’s listed right there for the student to kind of scroll through very easily.”
Teachers can also pull students to their classes for interventions and tutorials.
“We went from about 40 percent of students attending their interventions during HBL to now having about 100 percent attendance, which is crucial for student achievement,” CHS9 librarian Brenna Conway said.
CHS9 student Mayur Patel thinks flex time is valuable to his academic success.
“Some of the grades I’ve gotten have been pretty much entirely supported by study halls during those 30 minutes,” Patel said. “I get a little bit of time to review, and I think that’s benefited me.”
Once a week, teachers host an engage session during flex time to provide a fun break from the school day for students.
“During our engage sessions, students can come in and play pingpong, hang out with friends, do homework, read or participate in specific activities,” Conway said. “This week, we had students in the library painting kindness rocks for our kindness gardening, and I do a CHS9 Reads Books group every month where kids come to talk about the books that they’re reading.”
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