While the new school year begins, some of the rules have changed. The reactions across the school have been circulating across the students and teachers, with a good amount of the school having voiced their thoughts. While most of the community favors some rules and enjoy some over others, some have voiced different opinions and people have spoken about them throughout the whole school.

Cafeteria 

The first of these new rules has been about the cafeteria. Throughout the school day, students are hungry. The new breakfast/lunch policy now makes food free for everyone to eat as passed by a state law. While you aren’t required to eat breakfast or lunch, students love the fact that they won’t have to pay for a meal. Some students in Stockbridge might not be able to afford a meal due to their financial situation.

“I believe free lunch and breakfast is essential for students with low income and for people who enjoy food such as I,” junior Travis Aiken said. “Also, it would be good for students who do not have time to pack a lunch in the morning or are too tired to do so the night before.”

As students run into the cafeteria to eat their free lunch, they can now enter the gym. Once lunch starts, the gym becomes open for students five to 10 minutes after lunch starts. This change is mostly there to free up space for the cafeteria and allow students to practice for sports or just play for fun. Most energetic and sports loving kids love this new addition of the gym.
“Having the option of being able to spend some energy really helps calm the cafeteria compared to last year,” junior Xavier Curtis said. “While I dont go into the gym often, whenever I do it’s always fun to play some basketball again.”

“It gives people something to do during lunch” Junior Jace Mclellan said “I play football in the gym every day and I end up playing catch with my friends. it helps with my practice for football and lets me enjoy it too”
Along with the free food, most agree that it’s one of the best rules that have been implemented into Stockbridge.
“I definitely approve of everyone getting the chance to be active, hang out with friends, and move around because a lot of times in class, you have to sit in one spot and that gets old pretty quick,” World History teacher Carter Mauter said.
The big problem with the lunch room in the past is that students would have to sit down and stay in their seats for the whole period, which makes this change for the better.

Phones

Phones have been a staple to a kid’s life, and with the new phone rule, you can’t be on your phone at all during classes. This rule involves being able to listen to music, checking it because of a notification, or even having it out on desks. This change has been good according to Spanish teacher Christina Villegas.
“It lets me teach more and not worry about students on their phones,” Villegas said. “They are more willing to learn and I’m able to focus more on teaching. It’s also interesting to see how kids now entertain themselves when they get that anxious little tick.”

While teachers agree with this new phone policy, some students find it to be unnecessary.
“I think it’s stupid because last year the teachers were allowed to make decisions on it, but now it’s up to the higher power,” sophomore Aiden Negus said. “The school prides themselves on saying that we have a voice when we don’t.”
“I think it’s pretty annoying since some of us barely used our phones,’’ Freshman Adelina Luke said. “We can’t even use the calculators if we run out of them, plus some of us don’t have pockets in our jeans or shorts so we can’t move our phones with us to other classes.”
Students find the change to be completely unfair as they never had anything to do with phones being a problem.

Backpacks

Backpacks, or lack thereof, has been one of the biggest and most impactful changes to this year as students now have to move their items to their locker instead of using backpacks to move them between classes. This change negatively impacts the students while positively impacting the teachers.
“I love the change for the most part,” Villegas said. “I feel like students have a purpose in the hallway between class periods. They’re moving with a purpose as well instead of just talking and crowding up the hallways.”

“I’m a huge fan of the change” Algebra 2 and Pre Calculus teacher Mrs. Pardiac said. “For me it was a big obstacle to move around the class. I ended up getting stuck on people’s bag straps and I know that students were complaining as well. I also witnessed people pull their phones out during class to check them and they kept getting better at hiding it.
Although teachers like the change to backpacks, a lot of students have voiced their dispute for the rule.
“I don’t like the change because if I am running late I will be late to class since my locker is on the other side of the building,” senior Dennis Chapman said. “Also, I will sometimes forget to bring things to class because normally it is all in my bag and I don’t have access to it during class.”
“It’s [the backpack rule] stupid ” junior Hannah Deladurantaye said “My English class is across the building from my locker so I end up being late to class and sometimes late for the bus.”
As these rules have taken effect around the school, students and teachers have all been divided on what they find fitting. While some find these rules to be better than last years, others find it to be even worse and believe it was better before. These rules are a new stepping stone for Stockbridge and the community overall, where we all connect together to voice our beliefs of what we find good and bad.