The passing period should be extended to 10 minutes at Taft Charter High School when Taft students return to in-person learning due to R building. R building opened to Taft students in the 2019-2020 school year, after being used as an elementary school.

There is a long pathway past the baseball and softball fields to reach this new building. Taft limits passing periods to 7 minutes and many students would have to leave class in R building early to reach buildings on the other side of campus. Students would leave nutrition and lunch early just to make sure they made it to class in R building on time. In addition, students would also be late to R building because they couldn’t make it across campus in time.

With a 10 minute passing period, students will be able to make it across campus without getting hurt. “When I broke my leg and would walk to R building, everyone was pushing to try to get to class, and if the passing period was longer there wouldn’t be such a rush,” argued Kaylin Aram.

Students walked into class panting, as they had run from R building. The R building pathway is full of people rushing to get to their classes on the other side of campus. This longer time can ease students’ stress during their school day, and avoid students from potentially hurting others trying to get to class on time.

An extended passing period will also provide extra time for students to use the bathroom, instead of leaving in the middle of class and losing class time. In addition, If a student forgets a book in their locker, they have extra time to stop by their locker and pick up these books instead of losing learning time.

Taft has recently started a remodel which will require construction, so this will cause some pathways to be shutdown. An extended passing period is especially needed during the remodel to ensure everyone can make it to class on time, as some hallways will be extra crowded.

When Taft students return to in-person learning, I hope an extended passing period is put in place to better ensure the safety and education of students.