The administration has made substantial changes this year with the requirement of lanyards, restricted exits for those with off-campus and drop-offs only at Door 1–none of which were done without reason, but the amount of adjustment required by students was still significant.

All students were given a lanyard when they came in to buy books and pick up their schedules, so lanyards could be seen on almost everyone at least during the first few weeks of school.

“Beginning of the year, [students adjusted] really well,” said Assistant Principal Drew McGuire. “We had probably 95% compliance I would say on a daily basis. I would say that as the semester went on it trickled down, probably due to the adults not enforcing it as well. We’re definitely not good now–I’d say we’re closer to maybe 50-60%.”

The fact that the lanyard rule hasn’t been too strictly enforced is perhaps what plays into the perception that the rule has no purpose, which ultimately seems to be the source of the contention with the lanyards.

“I think that most students don’t wear their lanyards because they see no point in it,” said junior Sarah Uher. “For seniors, it’s different, because they need them for off-campus. But for the rest of the student body, it seems so unimportant, so nobody wears them.”

For seniors, the lanyards weren’t the only thing that had changed. Though there were always designated doors for seniors with off-campus to use, this year is the first where those choices were limited to just the Academic Entrance (Door 1).

“I think [seniors] have been really good,” said McGuire. “[Students] leaving, I’m sure they’ve used other doors. Have we gone after kids who don’t leave through the correct door? Not necessarily–but I don’t think we’ve had much pushback on it.”

Of course, despite the fact that most seniors still comply with this rule, many maintain that there should be more outlets for them to leave through.

“Personally, I feel it’s inefficient,” said senior David Menichini. “It becomes a little cramped, and isn’t convenient given that there are some who have to go other parts of the school and going through the academic entrance doesn’t make sense.”

Students who frequently have their parents drop things off have also had to adjust a bit, since drop-offs are now kept on a cart by the Academic Entrance rather than in the Attendance Office, where they were housed in the past.

“We have pass runners and YSS running things between doors,” said McGuire. “Then we have campus supervisors while running things to doors.”

This is one rule that many students are fond of, since they no longer have to go all the way to the Attendance Office and ask the personnel there to retrieve it for them.

“It’s really convenient,” said sophomore JJ Hennessey. “You don’t have to ask anyone to get things for you, you just walk up to the cart and grab them.”

Though many students have some problems with these new policies, there is no question that they are being quickly normalized by students, a trend that will most likely continue as the second semester progresses.