A new year at JHS brings a new list of school policies, and this year JHS has created a lot of new rules and has changed their school policies.

The first and probably most important change this school year is the schedule change. Previously at JHS, students had their lunch and advisory during 4^th and 5^th hour. If they had 4^th hour lunch, they would have a 5^th hour class, and if they had 5^th hour lunch, they would have a 4^th hour class. On Wednesdays, students would have late in, which meant that they did not have to be at school until 8:30, instead of the normal time at 8:05. This year, JHS has changed it. Students now had both 4^th and 5^th hour classes and either an A, B, or C lunch that takes place between 4^th and 5^th hour. JHS has also removed 8^th hour, and pushed advisory all the way back until school gets out. They have also removed late in and added early out. Instead of students coming in late at 8:30 a.m., they now get released at 2:45 p.m. Early out is only on Wednesdays, just like late in was. This might not be anything interesting for freshman, but for other students, mainly juniors and seniors who have gotten used to the previous schedule, this is an annoying change. Personally, as a senior myself, I feel very annoyed with the change, but I am sure that I can get used to it.

I am sure the reason we have early out is the same reason we had late in, and that is because teachers have meetings with each other at those times. A good question for the administrators is why push advisory period all the way back to the end of the day? It makes it less convenient for students. A personal scenario for me was when I had 4^th hour advisory. At that time, I would do homework for my afternoon classes. Now I have to do my homework at home or at the end of the day and cannot do it before the class starts. I asked a few seniors on their thoughts about the new school policies, and the majority were not positive. None of them liked advisory at the end of the day. Most of them actually like early out, although there were a few students like myself who liked late in better.

Another new policy that has been added are the passes. Students must have their agenda if they need a pass to go somewhere. Teachers can only allow the student to leave after the first 10 minutes of class, and before the last 10 minutes of class.

The last new major change in the school has is the graduation requirements. This policy only affects students who graduate in 2017 and after. To graduate, students now need to have 3.5 credits in physical education and .5 credits in health, instead of two credits of P.E. and .5 in health. Students now also need two credits in writing, although normal English classes cover this subject, so it is not separate. Students also no longer need three credits of science and history, only needing two credits of each. It is now also required to have 8.25 credits in electives for students who graduate in 2017, and 8.5 credits for those who graduate in 2018 and after.

The schools policies have definitely changed, and I am sure that in the future that they will continue to change. As previously mentioned, a new year at JHS will bring a new list of school policies.