Sixth period lunch is already a hassle for sophomores, juniors, and seniors. There is always a crowd to unlock your Yondr pouch, and most people are not allowed to go outside to unlock their phones if they didn’t bring in their Yondr pouch that day.
Starting October 24, the administration implemented the new rule. If you are late to school or late to seventh period, you will not be allowed to go outside during lunch the following day. The purpose of this rule is to encourage students to arrive at school or class on time.
Students will not be able to go to out for lunch for one day if they don’t come to school on time, are absent, or are late for seventh period. First period starts at 8:20, and most students that attend Pace are commuter students. Most of their commutes are about an hour to an hour and a half long. In the morning, the trains that are closest to the school, the D and B trains, are always running slowly or delayed.
Camila Fuentes, an 11th grader says, “I leave my house at 7:10 in the morning. It usually takes me an hour to get there, but the train delays sometimes cause me to be late to the first period.”
Even if students try their hardest to get out of their house early, the delays are not their fault.
Fuentes said, “A lot of us are not late on purpose. It is harder for us to transfer trains and live far away, even though we still try to be on time.”
She also said, “The school’s new Yondr pouch policy has also created a huge setback in the morning because you have to scan your ID and put your phone in the pouch.”
Mr. Chong, Assistant Principal, said, “This has always been a policy here at Pace since before the pandemic. Due to the pandemic, we had to stop, but now this rule is back.”
Even if students are absent the day before, they will not be able to go outside. Mr. Chong said, “You need a note or something later indicating why you were absent that day. If there is no letter or if the school is not informed, then you cannot go outside.”
Kaja Mijhalov, 11th grader, said, “I think that the rule should have been that if you were absent for a consistent amount of days, then you should not be able to go outside, not if you are late in the morning because sometimes there are train delays in the morning that are unpreventable.”
Mijhalov also said, “Today during her ride to school, her train randomly stopped at 34th Street for 30 minutes.” This was not her fault, and she believes that she shouldn’t be stopped from going outside if she was late for something that wasn’t even her fault.
Students should be able to appeal the policy if a student can show proof that their train was delayed.
