When the bell rings at 11:53, NPHS students sprint through the packed hallways and to the front of the school to scan out for lunch. All they are thinking about is food and pulling up their lunch code. Kids who are walking plan the quickest route to town, while drivers race out to beat the traffic. 

Our lunch period is only 50 minutes, give or take. When we have to walk from the end of the school, like the Physics room, all the way to the front through the crowded hallways, the minutes add up.  Especially for kids walking. For them, there is no time to waste. Every minute is precious because they must walk all the way around the school from the circle to get to town. This is about a 12 minute walk. However, those 12 minutes come with practice, speed walking, and strategic planning. 

The administration has made the decision that every student leaving for lunch needs to scan out from the front and leave out the front door.  Why shouldn’t they just be able to take one of the back doors? It would be much easier for them to cut through the school for two reasons: time efficiency and the weather. Why make them walk through the blistering cold or sweaty Septembers? Whenever I’ve walked back from town, I think: Why isn’t this door open? Then I wouldn’t have to walk all the way around the school and it would save time. The school can spare a scanner for the kids walking. These poor kids are already trying to make it to town, eat, and back all within 50 minutes, minus the 24 minute walk to town, and the several minute walk from the scanners to your class. 

Drivers don’t have it any easier.  It would be much easier to leave through the music or history wing to get to the senior lot. It saves time and would make other areas less crowded. For kids parked in the pool, they could leave out the STEM wing and cut their time down. It’s the same for coming back to school. One time, my Starbucks order was behind and I didn’t want to leave it there after I already paid for it. When I finally pulled up to the pool lot, I had only a few minutes to run to the front of the school, scan in, and sit down in my classroom. It was so stressful, and if I was able to enter through a door closer to the pool, then it would have been way more efficient.

Another issue that is created by having all the scanners in one place is that sometimes students just leave through the easiest door they want without scanning out. If the scanner is across the school, some don’t want to waste their time. However, if the scanner is right in front of them, the odds are that they will end up signing out. This creates a better way for managing students and where they are to make sure they return to school safely. 

There are many scanners used at the front, and I know a few can be dispersed around the school because kids would actually use them.