At Central Hardin, the doors used to open at 7:15 am. Now they open at 7:45 am to let students in. Students are wondering about the factors that went into this decision. Before school started, our principal, Kim Case, reached out to John Hardin and North Hardin to ask if she could change the time Central Hardin’s doors open. They both open their doors at 7:45 am, so now Central Hardin is adopting this time.
Along with this new entry time, our morning release has changed to 8:10 am instead of remaining at 8:00 am.
One of the biggest concerns was student safety.
“There are areas that it’s not safe for a student to be,” Case said, emphasizing the dangers if there is not adequate staff to supervise students before 7:45 am. “Several years ago, there was a construction worker who passed on site, I remember, and if I had a student who accidentally were to walk into an area that wasn’t supervised because I didn’t provide supervision . . . ”
An issue that was popping up was bathroom and hallway behavior due to the length of time students had to just be out and roam. So, the change from 8:00 am to 8:10 am was made to cut down on the potential for vandalism or other bad behaviors. Teachers’ required arrival time is 7:55 am, so it could be a problem only having a small window to just monitor kids before those kids are released five minutes later.
A good reason for the change to 8:10 am is that teachers have more time for them. It was a logical choice to give the teacher a little more time to get into the building, get ready for the day, run errands, make copies, set up things, but then also to safely get students out into the building.
Another reason why the morning release is 8:10 am. is that Case noticed the bulk of the buses were coming around 8:07-8:10 am, and the cafeteria would start to become too crowded, so it was time to let students into the building.
If buses begin to get to the school earlier, there is the chance that 8:10 might get set back a couple of minutes, so the cafeteria doesn’t get overcrowded.
“But again, if we release them earlier, and then we start seeing that kids have too much time prior to their first block class, and it’s creating issues, then that just reinforces the idea that the 8:10 was probably sufficient,” Case said on collecting her points to find a suitable time that works.
Some students are at the doors before 7:30-7:45 am. This has inconvenienced a couple of families. Case outlines a few solutions that some families have found.
“They’ve carpooled with others on days where 7:45 is too late for them,” Case said. “We’ve got some that are now riding the bus.”
Case suggests utilizing the restaurants around the school during heavy weather days and the cold, a workable option for families when it does get cold, when it is raining, and they have to figure out what to do at 7:30 in the morning.”
Despite this change in the morning, it hasn’t affected the attendance or tardiness of students.
