As this school year begins, a surprising change has been created by the school board, which left everybody in shock. After many years of the normal 7:15 start time for the bell schedule, as of 2025 they have decreased the time to 7:10. This sudden change has created an impact for students and even staff members. For some, it didn’t affect them at all, but for others, it has left them dealing with several issues.
With people being able to vote for which calendar to pick, specifically staff members of Klein Cain. One of the math teachers, Mrs. Spivey, has stated that they got to pick which schedules would be implemented at Klein Cain. And due to the fact that changing the time to 7:10 will give everyone more days to get off, a majority vote was decided to change it to 7:10.
“Well, the district says that they changed the schedule for this year because we had a choice for which school calendars to choose from, and 7:10 was the one that had more school days off, so that would be the reason why most voted for that calendar,” Mrs. Spivey said.
This sudden change has been an obstacle for students in need of help in the morning with math homework. In this case, especially for Math Teacher Cecilia Spivey, who utilized those 5 minutes to the fullest in the morning for guiding students.
“It has cut my time short by a little bit, but for me it may be a lot since there’ll be 5 minutes left off from helping other students in the morning,” Mrs. Spivey said.
In contrast, Abigail Cunningham, a junior cross country student, personally thinks that the schedule doesn’t cause too much of an impact, but others will have trouble adjusting to this new time.
“I don’t think it’s changing the availability too much. Because five minutes realistically isn’t a huge difference. I think it’s difficult now because people are still getting used to, like, switching the schedule,” Cunningham said
When the start time changed to 7:10, attendance officers were also affected by this change. Sam Rias, who is an attendant officer, has faced a big problem. Students are piling up in the office, increasing the absence rate for the school. With attendance, it has now been harder for the attendance offices to keep up since the usual late students are now coming in more late than they were last year.
“It’s a bit harder because some of our usual late students are coming in even more late, so we have a lot more absent students,” Rias said.
Despite some problems that these changes have caused, teachers like Mrs. Spivey have benefited from these changes. Being able to wake up 5 minutes earlier has created amazing time management for her.
“I definitely have to wake up earlier in the morning, which I’m kind of adjusting to, but it allows me to get up earlier in the morning, which I think is a positive thing,” Mrs. Spivey said.
For teachers, it’s a good thing, but for cross-country students, it’s taken a toll on their sleep schedule since they have to wake up 5 minutes earlier for their morning runs.
“I have to wake up earlier and leave the house earlier for cross country so that I have enough time to get ready in the mornings,” Cunningham said.
Recently, this past week has been filled with the intercom announcing tardy sweeps, more than usual compared to last year. Since the bell schedule requires that students wake up earlier, the school wants to keep attendance in check for all students.
“I think that that’s also the reason for the increase in tardy sweeps this week, since they’re trying to get students to go to class,” Rias said.
