New policies enact change

   Senate Bill 328, which passed in 2019, mandated that high schools in California start no later than 8:30 a.m. beginning with this school year. School now starts at 8:30 a.m. instead of 7:50 a.m. and ends at 3:25 p.m. instead of 2:45 p.m. on regular days. According to a survey of 261 students, most students are fine with the current start time, but 81.2% of students think school ends too late. 

   “There have been studies done that say that students could use extra sleep and that they’re more productive and it’s more beneficial for them to start school later. I’m hoping it’s beneficial and kids get to school on time,” class of 2023 grade level coordinator Jennifer Tucker said.

   However, students have also observed consequences from the new schedule. For example, 40.2% of students feel they do not get enough down time before or after completing homework because of the new schedule, and 30.3% of students finish their homework later than last school year. Almost three-fourths of students also said they have less time for school activities since school ends later. 

   “The challenges of implementing the new schedule were after school sports, what do we do when parents drop their kids off in the morning and then go to work, and making sure we have supervision for late night labs,” principal Ryan Maine said. “A lot of teachers have to pick up their kids after school so it just pushed everything back by 45 minutes. It definitely is taking some adjusting to get used to.”