The 2025-2026 school year at Pahrump Valley High School started with a peculiar change, one minute was removed from the passing periods. This was the first time the passing periods had changed before, bringing mixed reviews from students as well as staff. Questions also started to arise like if students could consistently make it to class on time but alas, no questions were answered. Numerous students were marked late to class on multiple occasions, even though it was their own fault some felt exasperated.
The apparent reason for a shorter passing period was to cut down on the tomfoolery that hooligans had been making at school. Mr. Larssen, an English teacher here at PVHS had his opinion on the situation: “I’ve been here for 11 years and the passing periods stayed relatively the same, but this year it was shortened by a minute due to shenanigans during passing periods. The time change cuts down on standing around and talking. Lots of other teachers and hall monitors are big fans of it due to how much easier it is for kids to stay away from fights, drug use, and causing trouble in general.” The shortened passing periods are a sort of blessing for hall monitors as they don’t need to camp areas prone to trouble, like the bathrooms. Most teachers also like the fact that students won’t have enough time to set up trouble.
But students, like Ernesto Diaz, who expressed his opinion on the shortened passing period, had some interesting points. “Almost everyday I’m late to at least one class. I’ve been so late recently I might have to go on a tardy contract. I’m glad my PE teacher is so chill. If he wasn’t, my tardies would be too many to count.” “I always pay attention to the time and I hate being late, but with four minutes to get to class sometimes I just can’t do it.” Although Diaz tries to be punctual he just can’t make it across campus in four minutes. Numerous other students have had similar experiences dealing with plethoras of tardies since the beginning of the school year.
Another question arises when on topic about shortened passing periods, the question is how can students use the restroom and make it to class in four minutes? The short answer is you can’t, unless you are quick footed and determined to make it to class on time. Normally you could get to class on time even if you had to travel from one building to the other but a restroom trip in between is a Catch-22. “Although there could be a struggle going from one side of the building to the other whilst dodging traffic it is possible, since I’ve done it myself,” stated Mr. Larssen. With the addition of the 10-10 rule the ability to use the restroom like a normal person is diminished especially if you really had to go. Teachers, like Mr. Larssen, think differently: “There really is no need to go to the bathroom during passing period. With the amount of students that go during class, the main purpose of passing should be to get to class without messing around.”
With all that being said, by the looks of it, the passing period is going to remain at four minutes for the rest of the school year. This might seem unfair to some, or righteous to others, but it’s just the way that it’s going to be. Even if the shortened passing periods are the cost of our actions, we just have to pay more attention to the clock and pick up the pace to make it to class on time.
