In light of all the new policies and structures that have been introduced at Potomac Falls High School for the 2015-2016 school year, three juniors opinions and reactions on these adjustments have been mixed.

  It seems that this year’s juniors have different views on the effectiveness of the school’s new system. These school-wide adjustments have affected individuals differently and on different scales.

  One of the most outstanding changes that the school has made for this year is the school’s new tardy policy. The new policy is stricter than the previous years’ policy because it’s more enforced. The new policy insists that teachers mark a student late if they aren’t in the room when the 9:00 bell begins to ring.

  “The tardy policy is unfair…there’s no room for simple mistakes,” said Goyer, who was marked tardy during the first week of school. However, she believes she wouldn’t feel as strongly about the tardy policy if she hadn’t been marked late so quickly.

   “Teachers shouldn’t have to send kids back up to the front of the school if they’re late; they should just mark them tardy on the attendance,” said Goyer. “We miss more of valuable class time by going all the way back to the front. It’s not practical.”

   Mittal and Hettinger, however, expressed no concerns with the new tardy policy, which Goyer believes is because it hasn’t affected them negatively yet. They had some other concerns, however. Hettinger does not like the new morning announcements system.

   “I don’t think putting them on Twitter is a good idea, because it’s annoying not being able to get the information in the morning,” said Hettinger. “I don’t think the change was necessary”. Mittal, however, believes that the new morning announcements system is definitely more effective than the old system.

  “Nobody has ever paid attention to the announcements [in the morning]… I would feel like I was missing important information.” said Mittal. She also commented on how having the announcements up on a Twitter page allows for quicker and easier access, and mentions how you can set up your smartphone so you get notifications, which ensures that you never miss an important event.

   Another new change implemented this year is the grading program, which was unpopular among the three juniors. They deemed it fruitless, for the reward of the switch was not great enough to make up for the hassle it took.

   “I am not a fan [of Phoenix]. The app, StudentVue, is harder to understand than Clarity was, and lots of the teachers aren’t super tech savvy, so they’re struggling a lot. It’s more of a burden now,” said Goyer.

   Potomac Falls has significantly changed since these juniors were freshmen, but when asked if they thought PFHS would change even more next year, their responses were a unanimous ‘no’.

   “There isn’t anything left to change,” Mittal said. “Everything has been switched, and it wouldn’t make sense to change what has already been changed.”

   Goyer and Hettinger sided with Mittal, saying that “There aren’t going to be any more changes the school can make.”

  While these juniors may believe that it would be impossible for the school to change anymore, they all have things that they would like to change about the school themselves.

   “I would change the dress code so that it’s less enforced,” said Hettinger. “I think it’s unfair and demeaning how intensely this school applies the dress code.” Mittal agreed, and added on how she thinks “people who don’t deserve to be dress coded and are being dress coded too frequently.”

   “[I would change] the tardy policy, [because] it’s unfair… I would go back to the way it was last year and the year before.” said Goyer.

   Despite the rollercoaster of changes that have recently occurred, these juniors still show their Panther Pride, and agree that Potomac Falls is “a great school with a great staff,” (Mittal).