For current and former ninth grade students at the Community School of Davidson (CSD), having a free block during the school day has always meant reporting to the school’s Academic Success Center for a Guided Learning Lab (GLL) where a teacher takes attendance and supervises the completion of all academic assignments and homework.

And like regular classes under the school’s new “No Cell Bell to Bell” policy, ninth graders in GLL are required to check in their cell phones and not use them.

For ninth grade students who finish all of their work, including those with excellent grades, having to sit with nothing to do and no access to cell phones can be quite boring, especially when these students see upperclassmen using their free blocks to sit, work, socialize and even use their phones in the unstructured environment of a Choice Learning Lab (CLL) no matter their study habits or current grades.

Learning Labs, whether CLL or GLL, are important parts of each student’s schedule and vary not only by day of the week but also by course load. Many students have multiple learning labs during the week. There are days where a student has none and days when that same student has up to four in a single school day.

This is the way learning labs have always worked at CSD.

Until now.

Just a week before winter break, CSD’s administration decided to make a change to the long-standing policy. In a Parent Square/Student Square announcement (the main form of communication) admin decided to let all students in good academic standing, including freshmen, have Choice Learning Labs while those with many missing assignments and low grades, no matter the graduating class, must report to the Academic Success Center for Guided Learning Labs.

The announcement said change would take effect immediately after students returned from winter break.

To be clear, if a student has missing assignments or needs help raising grades, that student is required to stay in the Academic Success Center for GLL no matter freshman, sophomore, junior or senior.

This change was made both to encourage ninth graders to learn study skills on their own and complete their work so they will be allowed to sit with others where they want for Learning Labs and to motivate and incentivize those other students to catch up on missing assignments and raise their grades.

CSD freshman Zack Benzit welcomed the change.

“I like the new learning labs because it feels like I can work more freely without anybody watching me at all times,” Zak Benzit (‘28) said.

The benefits of now sitting in approved choice areas are important to CSD freshmen. They can work with students not only in their grade but also in higher classes and instead of having to put their phone in a pocket, freshmen can now have their phone with them during this block.

The new policy does come with conditions. For students who miss a GLL, they have to schedule a conference with their parents and teachers to discuss a better plan for creating academic success. This encourages students to keep coming to class and motivates them to come to their Guided Learning Labs so they will be able to improve their academic standing and then return to Choice Learning Labs.

While there are many benefits to sitting in the less structured settings, there are also some disadvantages.

There’s always the possibility of friends trying to disrupt studying and talk plus other students simply being loud. Freshmen in particular can be louder and more disrupting than any other student.

The number of students moving around in Choice Learning Lab can cause additional distractions.

And with little one-on-one supervision like in Guided Learning Lab, students might feel less motivated to do work causing less production and slipping grades.

Upperclassmen like senior Owen Hamilton see an opportunity in the new policy.

“I don’t think it’s a bad thing for freshmen to be given Choice Learning Labs as long as their grades are fine because they’re no different than us,” Owen Hamilton (‘25) said. “I do wish we had them when we were freshmen. It would have been nice.”

Guided Learning Lab teacher Katherine Moyer is still seeing the new process unfold and may also have mixed feelings about freshmen sitting in the Main Commons and Arts Commons for Choice Learning Labs.

“I was impressed that some of the freshmen students took the initiative to speak with our Upper Administration about the Guided Learning Lab and advocated for themselves to be moved to a Choice Learning Lab,” Katherine Moyer said. “My hope is that during the [Choice] Learning Lab students will be able to use their time wisely to get their work done and stay focused on their grades. Learning Lab is such a great opportunity for students to prioritize their school work so that they can have more free time in the evenings and on weekends.”

One month into the second semester, students across all four grades are adjusting to the new policy. Freshmen are learning how to use their free block times wisely and all students, including upperclassmen, are starting to see that keeping their grades up means maintaining Choice Learning Lab privileges.