New School Year Changes

With every new school year comes new policies and programs to adjust to, and the 2018 school year was no exception. A few of this year’s newest features include:

• MySchoolBucks- This program enables parents to view and manage their student’s account, which they can use to pay for meals, fees, after-school programs, and the like, through any device. The company was started in 2005 by parents looking to make their “to-do lists” a bit more manageable.It’s now used by 25,000 schools in the US and handles more than $80 billion in transactions each year.   (info via MySchoolBucks.com)

• Earlier lunch in the mods and trailers- The trek from the main hallway all the way down the side hallways, to the smaller passageway between the gym and music rooms, to the doors that take two minutes to be unlocked, and down the sidewalks to the mods and trailers is not a short one. Due to this long walk, these classes have always had E lunch, the last lunch that ends with the fifth and sixth period classes. This year, however, lunches have been moved up by half an hour, which means students will have to make this journey twice, which has the potential to cut into class time.

• 20/20- The previous 10/10 rule that prohibited students from leaving class during the first and last 10 minutes of class has been doubled this year. This change was made so that administrators could identify tardy students and act accordingly. However, some students have expressed their distaste of the rule, claiming that the middle forty minutes of class, in which students are permitted to leave the room, are, in fact, the most crucial.

• Earlier start date- labor day has always marked the end of summer, but this year, it marked the end of a successful first week. This change was seemingly instituted with minimal fuss, the oddest aspect of which appearing to be a five-day long first week.