Students returning from holiday break were greeted with a list of new rules aimed at restricting their movement across campus to maximize their time spent in classrooms.

The new rules include limiting bathroom passes to three passes per class and per semester, a rotating Eagle Time schedule for tutoring during the school day, and requiring students to get a tardy pass if they are late to their 1st or 5th-period classes.

Assistant Principal Melinda Van Horn explained the rationale behind the new policies in an email.

“All of these policies have the same ultimate goal: we want ALL students to be at school, in class, on time, and making academic progress towards graduation and college/career readiness.”

However, students have said that they have concerns with the new policies, especially when it comes to the new Eagle Time tutoring schedule. According to the results of an online survey distributed by The Eagle’s Eye, about 21.4 percent of students said that after the new tutoring schedule started they can get the tutoring help they need when they need it and 78.6 percent said they could not.

Under the new policy, students are required to rotate through all eight of their classes during Eagle Time on Tuesdays through Fridays over a two-week period. Students still attend their Advisory classes on Mondays during Eagle Time and then they will rotate to all of their A-Day classes during one week and then all of their B-Day classes the next week.

The schedule can be confusing for students, as they have to keep up with a calendar to help them remember which classroom they are supposed to go to based on the day of the week. However, some students said on the online survey that they like the new Eagle Time rotation system better than the rules during the fall semester, which allowed students to get passes to get tutoring during Advisory class time.

Junior Nidia Valencia wrote in her survey response that the rules that allowed students to get passes let too many students walk the halls during Eagle Time.

“(Students) would always be in the hallways taking space,” she wrote.

Van Horn wrote that administrators changed the policy because the previous Flexible Instruction Time concept during the Advisory period was not meeting students’ needs.

Under the FIT system, which the school had in place in some form since 2015, students were allowed to sign up to go to any teacher’s class to get help on any days students were not assigned to attend Advisory classes. In previous years, the school tried to manage student attendance of FIT sessions by using an online website that allowed students to sign up for days when teachers provided tutoring. However, there were problems with students who chose instead to leave campus or hang out in the hallways and bathrooms during this time.

“While FIT worked for some students, we had too many students who were choosing not to go anywhere,” she wrote. “Advisory was often viewed (incorrectly) by students as optional. This way, students see their own teachers and have a sense of accountability to go to the courses they are earning credits for.”

Some students have expressed frustration with what they say is a more restrictive Eagle Time policy. Senior Isabella Estrada Lopez said the new schedule sets students up for confusion and stress.

“We don’t know exactly what period we’re going to for advisory and it stresses students out when they have to wait two weeks to get help in a single class,” she wrote in a survey response.

Van Horn wrote that administrators will monitor data on attendance and grades as well as student, parent and teacher feedback to evaluate the success of the policy change.

“We rely on attendance and grade data, teacher feedback, and student/parent feedback as well,” she wrote.

Van Horn said that administrators are aware of student concerns about the rotation schedule and suggested that students seek out tutoring from their teachers at other times besides during the Eagle Time period.

“I would suggest that the student first goes to their teacher and asks what other times are available. All teachers offer 1 hour of additional tutoring per week. We are continuing to monitor the transitions, and if we can get to a point where this first stage of implementation is running with fidelity, I am optimistic that we can begin planning for additional student options. The important thing right now is base-level accountability. We need to know where any student is on campus at any given time. If there is ever an extenuating circumstance, I encourage students to talk to their AP or counselor to see if we can help find a solution.”

Another point of discussion is the new rules regarding bathroom passes. Students are now given three bathroom passes in every class, these reset back to three every semester. Many students feel this is unfair. They feel as though all students are being punished for the actions of a few “bad apples”.

Freshman Andres Hernandez created a Change.org petition in response to this new rule. Since Jan. 9, the petition has received 185 signatures.

“I don’t think it’s fair to punish everyone in general, it’s unfair to those who haven’t done anything,” he said.