School days are long no matter if you start early or start late but does it need to be as long as it is?  The average length of a school day is about 7 hours but every hour is not being used such as when kids have study halls or lunches or other free periods.  We need to change Lakewood High because there are many kids who have multiple free periods one after another and are forced to stay in school.

Most of these students under these circumstances have done very well in school and have worked very hard to get to the point where they don’t need to take a ton of classes their senior or even junior year.  The only way students are not required to be in the school building from eight to three are those with late arrival or early release. But what happens if you have a study hall, lunch and then another study hall? You are supposed to sit there for two hours and do nothing.

We should be allowed to leave to get lunch off campus or go home for a bit so we could at least get a break from school for a bit when there is nothing to do.  Other schools even in our city (St. Eds) allow their students to roam free when they have lunch. Students are allowed to leave the building and go anywhere they want for lunch. When St. Eds senior Thomas Walden was asked about his open lunch he said “It’s really nice to be able to get a small break from school and not go through the day stuck inside one building for hours.” Lakewood needs to implement this policy, or at least give it a try.

Students will be able to get a break from the stress of school and ultimately come back later in the day feeling more refreshed and ready to learn. There is a simple solution to our problem of many free periods off and nothing to do but we need to take action.