The students at Welsh Valley are being rushed to get to each class and getting marked late for things they can’t control. We all know how big the campus is and we have classes on opposite sides of it which makes it very difficult to get to classes on time. I understand that teachers don’t want to have their lessons shortened, but they’re already missing time with their students coming in late. We should change the passing time in between classes to six minutes.

I understand that teachers don’t want time in between classes to cut into their teaching time, but we’re not asking for ten minutes. Just two extra minutes would significantly help students stop being late. The students that are there will have time to get settled in and get out the materials they need. Everyone has different schedules, so while some people might be going across the hall, others might be coming from across the campus. If people are coming from a close class they will be able to ask their teacher a question or have small talk with a friend. It would be a perfect opportunity to ask a teacher about homework or other questions instead of staying after class and risking being late to the next class. If there are kids coming from really far away, they won’t have to worry about missing part of the lesson or getting lunch detention. 

Even if you have classes close to each other, you might have to get materials from your locker. If I have science after Tech Ed, I would have to walk all the way across the campus, then go up the stairs to grab my materials, then go back down the stairs and get to class. By then, I would be late to class and miss some of what I was learning. Also, all students are new to lockers and even though it’s been a couple of months, people are still getting used to them. People need the proper amount of time to get to their locker and receive the supplies they need. Students are also more likely to forget materials or mess up their locker combination when they are stressed about being late. Also, specials are farther away than all other classes, but even if you tell teachers why you’re late, they will give you some solution that wouldn’t work. 

It’s understandable that if a student is 10 minutes late they deserve to be marked late, but if a student is a minute or two late, they don’t deserve to risk a lunch detention. I have been late to classes, but I am trying to get to my classes as fast as possible but it’s not very easy. It’s noticed that a lot of kids have been late and because of that they put in the rule that if you get 5 tardies you get a lunch detention. If you think about it, if a lot of students are being late that means that there is most likely a problem with the amount of time instead of the students. People are afraid of punishment and it’s not fair for someone to get lunch detention because they need to get the proper supplies for their class. There’s differences between a sStudent who just wants to skip class and a sStudent who is trying their best to get to class. Students have been talking to teachers and warning them about why they would be late but some teachers wont let them explain and give them unhelpful ideas. Some teachers are saying to get their supplies the previous time they go to their locker or not to stop and talk in the halls but both of these are unrealistic. Some classes require a lot of materials that aren’t practical to bring around and if we aren’t allowed to bring bags we should be able to go to our lockers. Most people aren’t stopping and talking for the whole four minutes of the passing time. Some people just want to say a quick hello, or some don’t say anything at all.

As you can see, adding a mere two minutes to the transition between classes could be extremely beneficial. Although this takes away from the lesson time, most teachers don’t start their lessons until all students get to class, so it shouldn’t make a difference. Also, if supplies are needed for the class that the student has next, it will create less of a disruption than if the student needs to get the supplies from their locker. Since bells have been removed due to the numerous grade levels’ schedules, teachers rarely let their students out on time, making it difficult for students to get to class with even less time than the given four minutes. The time in between classes should be altered to six minutes instead of the four we have now because of the advantages given with it.