As students flood in before classes at Cardozo High School, the halls are filled with their presence…usually. This year at Cardozo, however, the cafeteria has now become the place where students have to wait until homeroom begins — a new rule being implemented for all students.
Homeroom has only become a part of our morning routine since last school year. In addition to homeroom, the school initiated greater time intervals for students to transition to their next period because of the new Annex building. With all these new changes, both staff and students have expressed strong feelings about them.
For those of you who arrive at the main building of Cardozo between 7:30 a.m. to 7:55 a.m., earlier than the regular school day begins, then you are most likely very familiar with the morning change that occurred at the end of the fall semester.
Before, when the school opened at 7:30 a.m., students walked through the entrance to either the lunchroom to get breakfast or straight to their homerooms. They usually waited in the hallways outside of their homerooms until their teachers let them inside the classroom. Now, students who arrive within these 25 minutes must wait in the cafeteria until they are let out at 7:55 a.m.
The reason for this change originates from two problems that Cardozo has struggled with for several years.
Principal Colby explained, “There were many complaints about congestion in the hallways that we needed to address, and part of what we’re responsible for as a school is to make sure that when students are in the building they are under supervision.”
“Teachers are in specific meetings between 7:30 to 8 o’clock. I don’t have staff available outside each hallway to supervise students who are waiting by homerooms. I needed to move students to a place where I did have supervision, which is the cafeteria,” she added.
Once this plan was put into motion, the new alternation to the morning routine has created mixed feelings among students.
Leah, a Cardozo junior, described her feelings when in the lunchroom, saying, “I don’t like how crowded it gets, how the teachers rush us out after, how loud it is.”
Kaylyn, also a Cardozo junior, agreed with Leah’s remarks and added another issue with the morning modification. “They are quite strict on who they let roam the halls of the building, whether that be for using the bathroom, speaking to a teacher, or attending morning club meets.”
She explained that some students have reasons for arriving to school early. “For example, I’m in Tri-M, and we have weekly morning meets before homeroom,” she explained. “In order for us to attend those meets, our music teachers had to give a list of our names to the deans. This notified them of who is allowed to be released into the halls earlier than everyone else.”
This new adjustment seems to bring up more difficulties for the students and staff involved compared to the original, simple routine. However, this adjustment isn’t all bad. It does provide some unexpected benefits.
The teachers direct almost all the students in the main building into one area, transforming the lunchroom into a designated place for students to have morning chats with their friends. It also allows students to see friends that usually go straight to their homerooms before meeting them in their shared classes.
“If there is only one thing I like, it’s that I see my friends earlier,” Leah agreed.
The school also became cleaner since breakfast was not allowed to be brought out of the lunchroom until dismissal, another part of the morning change. Most of the breakfast had to be eaten and thrown out in the lunchroom, not out in the hallways and classrooms.
After these 25 minutes, students are now in the second part of their morning schedule: homeroom.
The 15-minute homeroom period is placed before classes begin. It was implemented into the morning schedule last school year, and some of our Cardozo community have strong opinions on it, as well.
For context, classes used to begin at 8:02 a.m. with first period. Now, homeroom begins at 8:02 a.m., with transitioning to first period starts at 8:20 a.m., and classes beginning at 8:25 a.m. Principal Colby explained that there were several reasons for this change, too.
“We were having attendance issues, in period one, then in addition to attendance issues, severe lateness issues. So we wanted to create a bit of a buffer for students,” Principal Colby shared.
Hridhika Barua, a junior at Cardozo High School confirmed that Principal Colby’s intention of creating a buffer did help students like herself. Barua commented on the benefits of a homeroom period, “I like it because it kind of gives, like, extra time before class, so if I’m a few minutes late it wouldn’t go into my first period.”
Having a homeroom period has definitely helped students since its implementation, and graduates wish they could’ve experienced its benefits. Khadija Mukhtar, an alum who graduated from Cardozo in 2022, expressed her envy of students in Cardozo today.
“In my senior year especially, I was literally late like everyday, so if I had homeroom I don’t think I would’ve been late so many times,” she recalled.
We’ve seen several changes in our schedule in the last few years. A major improvement our school has made is the new Annex building to reduce congestion in halls in the main building. With this improvement however, the length of transitioning has extended from four minutes to five.
Barua commented on this, saying, “Sometimes I get to class on time, and sometimes I don’t.”
Barua’s comment can be a sign that our school still has room for improvement, especially with all the new changes to our schedule and our new building. Maybe one day, our generation will be envious of the new students that get to reap the benefits of changes to the school and the schedule.
