By Bethany Pham, News Editor, & Lylyan Yenson, Staff Writer
This 2018-2019 school year, Fountain Valley High School (FVHS) adopted a new bell schedule, effectively eliminating the approximately 15-minute break and installing nine-minute passing periods.
It’s a tremendous change. For close to a decade, FVHS’s past bell schedules had included seven-minute passing periods as well as some sort of 15-minute break after second period, be it in the form of an indoor Baron Academic Time or last school year’s outdoor tutorial gap.
Students shared their opinions on the new bell schedule.
“I like last year’s bell schedule better because of the break. This year, there’s so much time to walk to class, and a lot of people get there early, so they just sit there in class. It’s really boring. During that 15-minute break, we could get different assignments done and study,” said junior Kaitlyn Douangmala. Photo by Lylyan Yenson.
“As much as I liked last year’s bell schedule, I have to say I’m with this year’s [bell schedule] because my classes are really, really scattered. If I didn’t have so many of my classes scattered, I would have preferred last year’s. Luckily, this bell schedule is just right for me,” said sophomore Savannah Strozier. Photo by Bethany Pham.
“I don’t like [the new bell schedule]. None of my friends like the new bell schedule. We want the break back, and nine minutes is kinda whatever. We feel like we don’t have enough time to use the bathroom and stuff, and break used to give us that opportunity. I would personally love it if we had block schedule,” said junior Joseph Marin. Photo by Bethany Pham.
“I’m relatively unaffected by the new bell schedule. It is a little off-putting because I’m showing up to my classes a little earlier, but what bothers me most is the lack of a break. Last year’s bell schedule was a little too much, in a way, because it unnecessarily dragged the day on while these nine-minute passing periods make the day feel more fluid, at least to me. And I’m sure it helps people whose classes are far away, something I suffered during sophomore year, so that must be nice,” said senior Chad Lonegan. Photo by Lylyan Yenson.
“Most students don’t take that much time to go to their classes because they usually go straight to class, and I feel like the nine-minute passing period is really unnecessary. I want the 15-minute break back because some students don’t eat breakfast, so they eat during nutrition [the break]. But now that there’s no break, they don’t eat until lunch,” said sophomore Maivy Tran. Photo by Lylyan Yenson.
“I feel like the nine-minute passing periods are unneeded, and I miss the break. You go to class early, and then we get to wait for the teacher to come in and for the bell to ring. I just want to start learning and get out of the class. Breaks are more efficient because, when people get hungry because they skip breakfast, we can just get breakfast after second period, and that would be better for all of us,” said junior Danny Pham. Photo by Bethany Pham.
This article was originally published in the October 2018 issue of the Baron Banner. In this issue, Baron Banner mistakenly identified Joseph Marin as Danny Pham.
