As of the 23-24 school year, passing periods before and after lunches have been shortened in order to lengthen teaching time in classes. In the past, A, B and C lunches had five-minute passing periods before and after lunches, with the exception of B lunch, which had none before nor after lunch passing period. This year, A, B, and C lunches are given a three-minute passing period with the exception of B lunch, which does not have a passing period before but has a three-minute passing period after.
The new passing period system makes it harder for students to make it to their classes after lunch before the tardy bell rings. Since students might not be able to get to their lunch on time, the extra time they spend walking to the cafeteria cuts into their eating time.
This is also bad news for seniors going off campus for lunch who now have four fewer minutes in total, two fewer minutes for both before and after passing period, to drive to their location, pick up food, eat and drive back.
More tardies for the students will eventually add up to absences (after three tardies) which count towards exemptions. This harms both the school, who will lose attendance due to added up tardies turned to absences, and students, who will lose exemption eligibility due to said absences.
Passing periods should be reverted back to their original length or at least extended to allow students to get to classes on time, have enough time to go off for lunch and keep attendance to a regular amount.
