By Josh Johnson, Social Media Editor — Junior Jalen Foster tried to get in the building on the first day of school and found the doors locked. He wondered if it was some kind of cruel joke. But then he realized – everyone else was there, waiting as well.
It was no joke. This year the school changed the time students could enter the building from 6:55 a.m. to 7:10 a.m. for the first week of school. The second week the time was changed to 7 a.m. to alleviate traffic.
Even though students are allowed in the building at 7 a.m. they must stay in the main commons until 7:10 a.m. If students ride the bus, they are to stay on the bus until 7:10 am.
“With all the traffic and routine of the morning rush we still have to work out the times students have to get to their classes on time and not be tardy,” assistant principal Jared Buck said. “The reason for the change is that teachers do not start their work day until 7:10 a.m. Previously students were coming in the building and walking around unsupervised.”
Some teachers do find this accommodation to the time a wonderful thing for their morning routine.
“I love the new time change. I now have my first period free for planning and coming in and being able to get right into my room is really helpful on my morning routine,” teacher Julie Filliez said.
Even though most students can find a bowl of cereal or a pop tart to eat in the morning, some students aren’t that lucky. A percentage of Glenoak students do depend on the school breakfast in the morning. Whether it is because they don’t have enough time to catch the bus and grab anything to eat, or they may not be provided breakfast at home.
While students are allowed to enter the school at 7 a.m now, if a student rides the bus they are not permitted to leave the bus until 7:10 a.m. Changes were also made to ensure the breakfast lines would be shorter so students could be in and out a lot quicker than last year.
“Giving the students about 20 minutes to eat breakfast sounds reasonable enough and should be enough time to eat their food,” Buck said.
[Updated Aug. 19, 2017: This article has been reformatted for consistency.]
