In previous years, once students arrived at school in the morning, they immediately went to their lockers, stopped by locker rooms or roamed the halls. However, an adjustment brought by the new school year and administration changed that.
Now, the school’s doors open at 7:30 a.m. and students have to stay in the commons or cafeteria until 7:50 a.m. At that time, students can go to their lockers, put belongings in locker rooms and meet with teachers.
New high school principal Stefanie Novotny based the new morning rules on safety for the school as a whole.
“One of the things that I noticed was we didn’t really have a procedure for when kids come into school and that supervision of them. And so…we made the decision to have all students be in either the commons or the cafeteria just so that they could have supervision in the morning,” Novotny said.
This was a practice that was enforced at Novotny’s previous school.
“This is similar to something we had done at our other school, but we want to make sure that once kids enter our building, they are properly supervised because if something were to happen…we are ultimately responsible,” Novotny said.
Although this new change is meant to benefit as many people as possible, like many other changes, it comes with its own challenges.
“[The] negatives are the feeling that the students aren’t trusted, especially the upperclassmen,” senior Bella Tederman said, “and the inconvenience of having to wait until 7:50 to put stuff away and meet with teachers.”
However, students who usually arrive at school closer to the first bell don’t notice as much of a change.
“I can see both pros and cons to this change, but to me personally it doesn’t really affect me because I get to school around eight,” junior Libby Winn said. “So I get here, and I just go to class.”
Students aren’t the only ones potentially affected by this change. Teachers’ mornings look different this year with more time and freedom.
“So by kids being in one area, [teachers are] able to get things done that they need to. If they need to make copies or if they haven’t [done] things that they need to do to prepare for the day,” Novotny said.
Last year, teachers spent their mornings supervising students in an assigned area in the hallways. This change has been beneficial for them while still reaching the same goal of safety.
“It really gives us more time, but kids are still being supervised,” English teacher Alyssa Hansen said. “It’s nice because we know where kids are.”
Overall, Novotny hopes both students and staff will be flexible as they adjust to the new year.
“We know it’s a little bit of a change,” Novotny said. “Sometimes change takes a little bit of time to… be successful.”
