Upon arriving at school, students are instructed not to enter the halls until 6:55, and wait in the cafeteria where administrators can supervise them.
The purpose of these changes, as Mr. Kelley, Assistant Principal said, “Teachers are actually not required to be on campus until 6:55, which means that we wouldn’t have individuals to be supervising the students, so that’s one of the reasons we decided to have everyone go to the cafeteria…and then at 6:55 once we have everyone on campus, then we are allowing folks to move about the building.”
There have been times where unsupervised students have caused trouble.
The constant fire alarms last year caused interruption in learning time and in one instance even happened during AP exams.
These changes can also be because of countywide bus problems, Mr. Kelley said, “Traditionally, buses had not been allowed to let students off until 6:45, and with the transportation issues that the county is facing now…we try to get students into the building earlier than the 6:55 timeline we’ve done in the past.”
This is because the county cannot find people to drive buses and the fact that the buses still have to go out on second runs to pick up more students.
With regards to the new principal, Mr. Kelley said, “It’s something that we discussed as a team, yes.” Seeing that the new principal wants to improve the school, these changes are welcome.
Rashad Burton, junior, said over text, “I don’t believe there is a good reason for this change, some people would like to be to class early and be prepared and on time.”
Students have plenty of time to get to class early and be on time if they manage their time well.
Based on what Mr. Kelley said previously, this is a good change that should hopefully cut back on incidents before the school day actually starts.
