Over the years, students who are currently enrolled in Stamford High School have had five minutes in between classes that act as either their bathroom break or snack break, alongside having to make it to class as well. Five minutes used to be enough time to get around from class to class considering there was only one building at the time, but now we have three buildings, making the school bigger.

I decided to see how long it would take for me to walk from the fourth floor to the second floor. It took me five minutes and eight seconds when the hallways were empty. However, when I had tried to walk from the fourth floor back to the second floor during the actual passing period, it took me a full eight minutes to get there due to hallway traffic and congestion.

In talking with students and staff, those who were in agreement with an eight minute passing period usually mentioned the traffic throughout the school. The particular issue with passing time is the fifth and seventh floor hallways, as they are the most congested.

I believe that there’s so much constant traffic because of how overcrowded the school is, and how students are constantly rushing to get to their classes, and it is worst in this transition area between buildings. Students should NOT have to constantly want to be the first one out of the classroom to get to their class on time or reach the bathroom on time, and an eight minute passing period would change this. If there was another hallway that was added that connects from the sixth to the eighth floor as well, that might help the constant traffic. 

Teachers especially have become more harsh and uncompromising with tardies and it has become increasingly difficult for students including myself to keep up with it. If you are late regardless of the excuse, you will be marked tardy, which has a negative impact on a student’s grades. At least four tardies recorded to a class leads to one absence. That can have severe consequences to a student’s transcript, as they will lose credit no matter what grade they have. 

An eight-minute passing period is ideal for teachers as well; students are able to quickly go into a teacher’s classroom for a quick question or  conversation without needing to write a pass because of the extended time for passing period. 

It’s even more difficult to not be late to class as there are so many locked bathrooms now. There are students who should have easy access to the bathrooms on their floor closest to their classrooms that are now locked. Students are constantly found roaming the hallways looking for an open bathroom, which cuts into a great amount of class time. 

Just five whole minutes to get from the second floor to either the seventh floor, the ninth floor, or even from the gym to the third floor. I believe that in many situations, five minutes is not enough time to get from an entire floor to another. Passing time should be extended to at least eight minutes – a reasonable amount of time to allow students to be able to use the bathroom, grab a quick snack, and not have to worry about being late for class.