{"id":3457,"date":"2023-10-13T11:07:10","date_gmt":"2023-10-13T15:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/?p=3457"},"modified":"2023-10-13T11:07:12","modified_gmt":"2023-10-13T15:07:12","slug":"the-new-new-start-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/the-new-new-start-time\/","title":{"rendered":"The New New Start Time?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Babiha Kaur, Digital Editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of Wednesday, September 20, River Hill\u2019s start time changed from 8:00 a.m. to 7:50 a.m. The new change was implemented in order to allow buses to transport students to school on time. Although the time was adjusted by only ten minutes, River Hill students are still affected by it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before this year, school began at 7:25 a.m. for River Hill students. However, on February 13, 2023, the Howard County Board of Education voted to adjust start times for schools, shifting high schools to begin at 8:00 a.m. The new start time took effect on August 28 and lasted for a few weeks before another change was implemented. In a message written to HCPSS families on September 13, HCPSS superintendent Dr. Martirano explains the reasons why the start time for high schools was shifted back ten minutes: \u201cTo build additional time into the student transportation schedule and prioritize getting every student to school on time, I am utilizing this flexibility to shift school start times.\u201d The main reason for this change was to resolve the bus issue, as many buses in the county were unable to transport students to school on time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the change was implemented, students were still adjusting to the new timings and rules. Senior Divya Kumar states, \u201cit\u2019s kind of frustrating because we have to learn a new bell schedule right after we got a new one.\u201d Senior Smera Singh remarks, \u201cI think that we had very high hopes coming into this school year thinking that we were going to have extra time to sleep, it was going to be better for our mental health, and we would have a better start time and school schedule. That just doesn\u2019t seem to be the case.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Previously, many students were unable to arrive to school on time because of late or absent buses. Smera, a bus rider, expresses, \u201cI would come in two minutes before the bell rang, and sometimes I would be late or very close to being late.\u201d Similarly, senior Vyahruthi Anagani believes that the new start time \u201cwas necessary because I remember coming into school like five minutes before the bell rang, and that was a whole experience on its own. I understand that the other people in traffic could have [had] struggles, so I think that a newer start time could help in some aspects.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the new start time has helped students arrive to school on time, some believe that they come to school too early. Vyahruthi describes, \u201cI come to school twenty minutes before the bell. None of the classrooms are open and because of the new [rules] you can\u2019t really do anything before school either.\u201d Previously, students often hung out with friends in the media center or saw teachers before school. Smera agrees, commenting, \u201cBecause of the policy regarding where we\u2019re supposed to be and our classrooms, I can\u2019t really do anything else besides wait outside my classroom.\u201d Coming to school early does not have any particular advantage, especially because there are limited activities students can do before first period. Divya adds, \u201cSome teachers aren\u2019t available before school, so that makes it harder.\u201d Many students often go to their teachers for extra help before or after school, but are unable to do so even if they arrive to school early.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, students are unsure if the implemented change was the right one. Smera describes, \u201cI do think that there needed to be a change; I am not sure if it should have been ten minutes back or ten minutes after.\u201d For now, it seems that all we can do is wait and see what will happen next.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Babiha Kaur, Digital Editor As of Wednesday, September 20, River Hill\u2019s start time changed from 8:00 a.m. to 7:50 a.m. The new change was implemented in order to allow buses to transport students to school on time. Although the time was adjusted by only ten minutes, River Hill students are still affected by it….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":3458,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[286,282,269,211,285,739,738],"class_list":["post-3457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","tag-journalism","tag-opinion","tag-rhhs","tag-river-hill","tag-river-hill-high-school","tag-schedule","tag-start-time"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/unnamed-12.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3457"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3457\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3459,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3457\/revisions\/3459"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}