This year, some changes were made to the school and the school schedule. Most changes were due to budget cuts or saving money to be spent elsewhere.

For starters, school starts five minutes earlier. There will also only be three lunches instead of five in order to get rid of split lunches. Lunches will be five minutes longer to compensate for the larger amount of students in each.

“I’m ecstatic about the new lunches,” Principal Sonny Arnel said. “Before, the split classes were a hassle for the teachers, and because you can’t split gym classes, band classes, or science classes, it was not fair to all of the other academics.”

Along with the changes made to the lunches are the changes made to the school calender. Unlike last year, there will be no half days except for finals for first and second semester, but the fall break and spring break will be extended. The half days and breaks were decided to save money by putting all schools on the same agenda.

“I think that it will likely take some getting used to by all who will be ‘experiencing’ the new calendar,” Dr. Steven Griggs, chief human resources officer, said. “However, I think that once we have lived with it for a while, it will be as natural and ordinary to us as our former schedule was.”

As for additions to the school: there are five new staff members in the school, the Pepsi machines were replaced by Coke machines, there is a Spartan statue by the football field, there is new Wi-Fi accessible to everyone at school, the writing lab is in a new place, and the lab will not be staffed.

Although these changes have mixed feelings from the staff and students, they are here to stay.