Lawrence North High School Newspaper 

With the changes in rules and regulation at LN this school year, there is some debate as to what regulations are to the benefit and which ones are to the detriment of the school community.

For example, the change in the school start time from 7:30 a.m. to 8:50 a.m. was a decision made by Lawrence Township based on studies that showed that more sleep for students lead to better academic performance.

For this reason, the decision to change the start time is well understood and accepted. However, not all changes have helped students. Some have created disadvantages.

Although not every student is incredibly fond of the newly established tardy policy and the tardy room, it brings its fair share of benefits to the school. The tardy policy encourages students to arrive to class on time and, in doing so, it keeps students from wandering around in the hallways when they should be in class.

However, the “zero-tolerance” approach to tardies, while keeping students out of the hallways, punishes those students who acquire a pass from a teacher for one reason or another.

These are more often than not students who are finishing up tests or talking to a teacher about something to do in class, which is important as well. Giving these students a tardy for being concerned about their classes is not a signal that should be emitted in school.

Similar to the tardy policy, the opening of the school entrances only between 8:30 a.m. and 8:50 a.m. restricts students’ access to the building.

Some students prefer to arrive to LN much earlier than this for various school reasons, including getting help from teachers or sports activities, but right now students are encouraged not to do that with the doors remaining locked until 20 minutes before classes.

This also causes heavier traffic on Hague Road because students are encouraged to arrive within this window of time, thus causing more tardies in the morning.

Overall, the new rules and regulations have greatly impacted the student body. Some of these changes have helped to make LN a better learning environment, but at the same time have created setbacks that may need addressing