Picture yourself walking to class from the end of d hall to the end of A hall, you’re late to class by 1 minute and you rush to try to make it to class in time, But wait, you need to fill your water bottle or go to the bathroom but class starts in 30 seconds. You get to class after fulfilling your tasks, and your teacher marks you tardy. I know I’ve experienced this and many others have as well. You may have even experienced this today. It’s a huge problem and their should be a solution, I’ve, interviewed many students to get their opinions about the matter and their ideas for a potential solution. But first ill go over the problems and reasons their needs to be a change.

Physical Distance Between Classes and Potential Dangers

For some students classes are on opposite ends of the school and because of this they rush to class often running or speed walking to try to make it. This results in an increased risk of injury to the student or others because of collisions or falling. During the winter the floors are often wet due to students tracking in snow and because of this they are slippery. Running and wet floors do not go well together. In my 4 years of going to Chatfield I’ve seen a lot of people slip due to the wet floors.

Hallway Congestion

Hallway congestion is a major issue as well. Sometimes the hallways are packed with people and some of those people decide to walk slowly causing congestion and walking traffic. This is extremely frustrating and can cause people to be late. Hallway congestion can be it’s own problem but when paired with short passing periods it’s a nightmare.

No Time For Basic Needs

For people who have to travel long distances to their next class they have no way to use the bathroom without being late. They may have a hard time filling their water bottles or for the students who have lockers they may not have time to get the materials for their next class depending on the distance and time they have left. Their are many more of these needs students may have which will take huge amounts of time off their passing periods causing them to be late.

Accessibility Concerns

Accessibility concerns are also a major factor that need to be considered. Students with leg injuries or other injuries that may alter their ability to get to class quickly have a hard time making it, plus what if they need to use the restroom. Most likely teachers will recognize these difficulties and not mark the students with these troubles tardy, but some definitely will still mark these students tardy no matter the case.

Stress and Anxiety 

Increased stress and anxiety is another major role. The rush of trying to make it to class on time plus the accumulation of tardies can create a huge impact on a students mental health causing them to be more stressed and anxious. This leads to poor work quality and maybe not even doing the work at all. After a while of being tardy you may feel hopeless or as if the teacher doesn’t recognize your difficulties this can have a huge toll on the quality of work presented

Unfair Consequences

At our school, over 3 tardies leads to lunch detention, however unfair tardies from short passing periods also lead to lunch detention meaning students who are trying their best still receive lunch detentions which gets rid of their lunch period completely for a day, maybe more depending on the severity. Food is incredibly important for students to preform well and without lunch, their will be massive noticeable differences in a student ability to work which I think is super unfair.

Time For Teachers

Teachers also need time to turnover their classes which is hard to do in 5 minutes, especially for elective teachers who may need to make sure everything is put away properly and stored. Passing periods are a great time to ask questions and get assistance from your teachers. This however is difficult for the students and teachers since it takes away from the students and teachers time. I know that I constantly ask teachers questions after class and almost every period. Because of this their has been a few times where I was marked tardy just because I didn’t understand something in the previous class and wanted clarification.

Interviews:

I Interviewed some fellow senior students since they have been going to our school the longest and likely have the most experience with our passing periods. Here is what they said:

Preston Bennet: I interviewed Preston Bennet a fellow senior at Chatfield senior High to hear his view point on the matter. He agreed with me and told me passing periods are too short he explained that he has a difficult time getting from the end of D to A hall or vice versa without being marked late or tardy. He explains that just 1 more minute would make a huge difference

Katie Miller: When I interviewed Katie she said she agreed with the many problems I presented and said someone needed to do something about it. I asked her what she though the best solution was and she believed that adding a little extra time would be the best fit.

Leah Van-Beuge: Leah explained to me that because of the 5 minute passing periods she has been tardy multiple times. She explained that she is fed up and believes something needs to be changed. She said it’s unfair to the students, and even some of the teachers.0060

Taye Dixion: Taye is a senior at Columbine High School. I interviewed him to get a perspective from another school and he explained that at Columbine they get 10 minute passing periods. He explained to me that the students have tons of time to do what they need before class and that it is very difficult to be tardy due to these extended passing periods. I’m a little jealous. However he also explains that 10 minutes is a little long, and that when your early to class it’s awkward.

The image to the right demonstrates the hallways at Chatfield Senior High during 2nd period. This isn’t even during a passing period! They already look crowded so when it come time to go to your next class you can probably imagine how it gets in the hallways.

This timelapse video below shows how fast and packed our hallways get packed during passing periods

My Solution: 

School is already stressful enough and with the added pressure of trying to make it to class on time when passing periods are too short it makes it even worse. I know from personal experience and from the experience of others that something needs to change, something needs to be done. It’s difficult already to get to class when it’s on the other side of school but when you add students basic needs, congestion and running through the halls to the equation it makes it even worse. My proposed solution is to add 1 more minute to the length of our passing periods to make them 6 minutes in total instead of 5. It’s an incredibly small difference with a huge impact. Adding just 1 minute will allow students to safely make it class and get their basic needs completed. There will be a noticeably smaller amount of stress leading to increased and improved workloads along with better quality of work so it is a win for everyone. It would just add around 5 more minutes to the school day if we keep the current agenda the school already has. The halls will also be a much safer place. There will be less congestion and running. 

Conclusion:

In conclusion, there are many problems that can be attributed to our passing periods being too short. However, their are many solutions that can be used, but I believe that the best solution for the problem is adding 1 minute of time to our current passing periods. As shown above this will have huge benefits for everyone and will make school a much safer and less stressful place for both the students and faculty. The solution will be very easy to implement since it will require very minor schedule changes and will likely cost nothing since it is only adding a couple more minutes of time to the school day. Thank you for reading and listening to my problem and it’s solution