I was thinking the same! When the last batch of changes hit a month or so ago I thought that was it and things would be relatively safe - definitely a first for me seeing a change roughly 6 weeks out. (Though in my defense I only fly AA once or twice a year, my primary carrier is DL, so not fully up to speed on what is normal with AA).

As a side note, the flight in question went from AA mainline initially, to PSA last round of changes, to being totally scrapped on certain days of the week with this change. To lose the 0645 out of ECP-DFW during peak spring break season on roughly 2 or 3 days a week was quite surprising and makes any connections out of DFW that leave before 3 PM impossible, severely impacting connectivity. There are flights to CLT and ORD, but none that can connect back to DFW to make flights that are solely ex-DFW, such as ANC this time of the year.

Waiting to finalize my work schedule, which should be known in a day or two, then will call in to request pushing the return back a day (unable to change online, website says to call). I'm bracing for how much pushback I will get - which there should be none by policy - but have never had good interactions with AA customer service. The F fare is double what I initially paid, but per policy this should be simply an even exchange to push my return back a day.

Edited to add: Called in late tonight and was able to push the return back a day with no pushback - agent processed as an even exchange and all is well.