Coming back from summer break, students and teachers alike were faced with having six minute passing periods as part of the new 2022-23 Millard West school year.

With the school’s predicament of not having enough educational hours, the school’s strategy team came up with the plan of Flex time which had to take 14 minutes from passing periods among other things. This resulted in the six minute passing periods, which have caused an adjustment period since the year started for students and staff alike.

“We are required by the state to have a minimum number of instructional minutes,”  Principal Dr. Greg Tiemann said. “A school strategy team came up with the idea of a Flex Time and it needed to be 30 minutes in order to be effective. We also wanted to see a drastic reduction in disruptions and poor hallway behavior by having more urgency for students to go directly to a class.”

Some could argue that six minute passing periods could be seen as too short, especially for students who have to take a long walk from classroom to classroom. However, tardiness rates seem to be unaffected by this change.

“I have not noticed anything in particular with student attendance and the passing periods,” business teacher Ashley Dworak said. “Some students are late to class, but I had the issue of tardy students on eight minute passing periods as well”.

While this may be unnoticed by teachers, some students still barely scrape by with getting to class on time. They are left with very little time to do things like use the bathroom or stay a few minutes after to get help from a teacher.

“I have been late to class much more often than in previous years due to my third period being in the Green Mile, and my fourth being in the science hallway, the walk itself is quite long,” junior Elisey Kolesnikov-Cherenkov said. “This leaves no room for any form of socialization, teacher assistance, or using the restroom. Rather than preventing me from socializing, it just makes me prioritize socializing over coming to class on time.” 

For some this new change may be difficult, and passing periods might seem very tight. However, with a year ahead of us, we will all eventually adjust to this new six minute passing period.