When a student goes from a social studies class (the farthest one can go in the north wing) to a Spanish class (the farthest one can go in the west wing), there is barely enough time to make it to class, much less go to the bathroom or get a drink of water. Throw in everyday foot traffic and late dismissals from class, and it can be downright arduous to reach class on time.
Freshman Warren Sleight affirms this point, sharing, “If I had to go to the bathroom during the passing period, I would most likely be late to class.”
While a tardy here or there might not seem like a big deal, consider that there are roughly 170 days in the 2023-2024 school year (in Jefferson County) and the tardies can start to add up as the year progresses. If you take 170 and divide it by five, you get 34. This means that a student who is late only ONCE a week will be tardy around 34 times throughout the school year. Add in a couple of rough days, and the amount of tardies a relatively hardworking student receives can easily climb into the 40s, possibly even the 50s.
In order to demonstrate this point more clearly through statistics, Breanna Kunter, a mathematics and statistics teacher at Arvada West, employed her class to run through a series of different trials. These experiments hoped to answer four questions:
- How many seconds, on average, does it take to walk from the far end of the West Wing to the far end of the North Wing?
- How many seconds, on average, does it take to walk from room W205 to the water fountain at the end of the West Wing (2nd floor), fill up a water bottle, and go back.
- How many seconds, on average, does it take to walk from W205 to the water fountain at the end of the West Wing (2nd floor), take a drink, and go back.
- How many seconds, on average, does it take to walk from W205 to 1st floor West Wing restroom and back?
Here are the results:
Average time in seconds from the far end of the West Wing to the far end of the North Wing: 186 seconds.
Average time in seconds to walk from room W205 to the water fountain at the end of the West Wing (2nd floor), fill up a water bottle, and go back: 141 seconds.
Average time in seconds to walk from W205 to the water fountain at the end of the West Wing (2nd floor), take a drink, and go back: 124 seconds.
Average time in seconds to walk from W205 to 1st floor West Wing restroom and back: 147 seconds.
To some, this data may seem like a particularly difficult word problem in math: complicated, confusing, and long-winded. However, the key point that needs to be made is that a student who needs to go to the bathroom or get a drink of water during their passing period will realistically be late to class almost every time. This isn’t fair to students or teachers, with the former missing valuable class time and the latter having their classes constantly interrupted by those who are late.
Arvada West has shown a willingness to change its bell schedule before; it is safe to question if they will be open to doing so again, if only to make it mathematically possible for students to get to class on time.
