With the new school year at Carterville High School, changes are on the rise, such as the new bell schedule, vending machines getting closed, and advisory switching to only Mondays.
Each student at Carterville High School has a differing opinion on these changes, with some not being affected at all. Senior Alexis Cowser said,“I think it is a bit upsetting that they closed the vending machines during school hours but the advisory changes do not apply to me since I am in the work program. I am okay with the changed bell schedule since I get an extra 15 minutes to get to school, but I think it was not necessary because it was just taken from our lunch.”
Like many other students, Cowser did not receive an explanation as to why these changes must happen.
The principal of Carterville High School, Mr. Rogers, is here to help explain the purposes of these changes and how they can help the students and school as a whole. He said, “Those decisions don’t always just come from me, they come from different conversations with different groups of people. Adjusting the bell schedule helps us in a couple of ways, we have several students who have a John A Logan class at the college so starting 15 minutes later gives them more time to be able to get to the high school campus on time. We have a lot of people involved in extracurriculars and trying to get them started earlier so they get home at a decent time. It allows our buses to be here and ready to go for our bus riders as soon as the day’s over.”
He also talks about the advisory as, “We limited advisory to one day of advisory to give that time to make sure we get all of our club meetings in and our academic supports.”
Mr. Rogers then followed up the interview by providing a paper stating the Foods of Minimal Nutritional Value (FMNV) regulation in schools. This regulation caused the closing down of the vending machines in the cafeteria due to the drinks sold being considered of low nutritional value. While this and the other alterations to the school may not be liked by all, they are necessary to improve the high school.
There are some students who actually like the new schedule because they benefit from it. One of those students is senior Kaitlyn Wallen, she said, “I do not mind the advisory change and I actually like the bell schedule a lot because I have an 8th hour study hall. On the hour early outs I get out at around one, and on a regular day I get out at two, so it’s pretty sweet.”
Wallen represents many with her opinions of these changes, but not all. Carterville High School’s implementation of new changes and rules throughout this year, may have come as a shock to some but is overall for the good of the school.
