Five minutes! Five minutes is the amount of time Lufkin High School gives its students to get from class to class, and it is not enough!

It is true that it’s possible to make it anywhere in the main building in five minutes, but what about the classes that are in the ag building, and what about the restroom breaks that we are expected to take during the five minutes?

Every day, I have to go from Mrs. Marshall’s class in the ag building all the way to Mr. Lanigan’s class in the W-200s. I always make it just before the bell rings walking without any stops.

It takes approximately two minutes to use the restroom, leaving only two to three minutes to walk through student traffic without running to get to class, which is impossible if your classes are on opposite sides of the building.

Students could just wait until they get to their next class to use the restroom, but LHS has a rule that makes it so students are unable to leave for the first or last 20 minutes of class. When students do decide to skip going to restroom, all they’re able to think about is getting through the first 20 minutes.

Students are also expected to work up until the bell, so they have to use some of the five minutes to put their things up, giving them even less time to get to class without being late. Once they finally do finish, they have to rush straight to class without any time to even get refocused for their next class, because if they don’t, they’ll get a detention. It’s really stressful if you think about it.

I believe if we were given about two to three extra minutes, then tardies and detentions would be reduced and student performance would increase.