WOODBURY — The bell rings and students begin to pour into the hallway. There is no time to organize your things, you have already been late to class too often this week. After nearly sprinting through the hallway, you make it to class, but not quick enough, adding yet another tardy to your growing list. 

Sure, you may have stopped to talk to a different teacher but that isn’t the reason why you’re late. The culprit?

Insufficient passing time. 

With only four minutes to pass from class to class, students are stressed, and rightfully so. It is a literal trek from one side of the building to the other and that isn’t even counting the agriscience  building. 

“I’ve been late often, especially to math, considering I have ag second period and I have to walk all the way across the entire campus,” says freshman Reese Longoria. 

Quinn Greaves, a freshman at Nonnewaug, agrees. 

“I think the hallways are very crowded and we don’t have enough time to pack up and get our things together,” Greaves said. 

So if students have barely any time to go from class to class, how are they supposed to be able to socialize, too? 

“I would love to have more time to talk to people and use the bathroom because sometimes I’m trying to be responsible with my time but I’m just always late to class,” said freshman Gia Savarese.

But that isn’t the only problem. The school hallways become a treacherous place when everyone is in a rush. The main hallway becomes cramped and students are sandwiched between the wall and their peers. Upstairs, it’s just as bad. But everyone’s worst enemy?

The stairs. 

“The stairs are always really crowded and I don’t think they are big enough because if people are walking on the other side of you; I often find that I run into them because they are not wide enough,” says Longoria. 

Nonnewaug history teacher, Rebecca Trzaski, understands the chaotic nature of the four-minute passing time blitz. 

“Personally, I try to avoid the staircases, especially the ones that go near the cafeteria, during passing time at all costs,” says Trzaski. “I think they’re very crowded and very congested.”

If people are purposefully trying to avoid the stairs, that has got to mean something. But is there a solution to all of these problems? Maybe. 

“Passing time should be longer because the amount of people in the hallway trying to get to one place as fast as they can creates all this chaos which is unsafe,” says Longoria. “It makes me stressed out when I can’t get to class without being late.” 

So why aren’t passing times being extended? Nonnewaug principal, Mykal Kuslis, offers his view on how long passing time should be. 

“Going anything longer than four minutes just takes too much time out of the day,” says Kuslis. “I think you can get anywhere in the building in four minutes, but still feel some kind of urge to get there in a timely manner. So there is a little bit of balance there.”  

So while having more passing time might be beneficial for some students and staff, unfortunately, the predicament will have to remain unsolved.