Five-minute passing period leaves students scrambling
By Miranda Sell
BEEEEEEEP! The bell signals that class is over. I finish writing the answer to my final question on my assignment, put away my pen, and gather up my belongings. As I turn in my paper, I start thinking about all the books I need for my next class. It looks like it’s time for a pit-stop at my locker. However, as I make my way from math there seems to be about 50 people congregating in the middle of the hallway. I cry “Excuse me!” to about 20 of them before I finally reach my locker and pull out my stuff. Now I have to book it up to the third floor D-Wing and there’s only one minute left of passing period. As I start up the stairway, I realize I’m behind Mr. Swag himself. He’s too busy strutting his stuff to actually walk at a normal speed. There are too many people on the left side of the stairwell to pass him, so I am forced to walk at his snail pace. Eventually, I reach the third floor and hike as quickly as I can to my English class. I’m about ten feet from the door when… BEEEEEEEP!
This year the passing periods at NAHS were reduced from six minutes to five minutes. Although this is only a one-minute decrease, the consensus among most students is that there isn’t enough time to get to class.
“I think the five minute passing period is too short because it doesn’t give me enough time to go to my locker and go to my class,” freshman Mila Spicer said. “Sometimes I have to go to the bathroom, and I don’t have enough time.”
However, according to the administration there seems to be plenty of time for students. But when you factor in leaving class, getting your books, and trying to get around everyone else; five minutes is just not enough time.
“We haven’t seen kids running to get to class,” dean of students Jason Flener said. “I tried pretending I was a student, and I tried to find my classes. I made the worst possible schedule; I had a class on the balcony of the auditorium and my locker was in the pool. I made it to every class within the five minutes, and I factored in the amount of people that would be in the hallway.”
The question is this: how could a teacher possibly know what we, as students, have to deal with when trying to get around all of our classmates? There is no mathematical formula to factor in being the caboose of a long line of gangsters on the stairwell or rounding that corner with Mr. and Mrs. Goo-Goo Eyes in the way.
“The fake schedule was done last year during school,” Flener said. “I did the walk between fifth and sixth period as school was happening; therefore, 2000 students were in the hallways with me.”
This seems like a valid enough rebuttal, but there is one thing left to consider: a teacher can walk through the crowd in a way that is comparable to Moses parting the Red Sea, but if an average Joe tries to maneuver his/her way through? They might be doing well to part a Red Puddle.