Now that the school year is in full swing, many students are noticing more and more that the hallways always seem to be jammed up with students trying to go the same way to get to their next class. Students sometimes feel as if that the “hallway traffic” that they deal with each and everyday causes them to get to class right on time, prevents them from stopping to talk to friends between classes, or even prevents them from going to their locker to get their book for their next class. When asked about this topic, many students agreed instantly that the hallway traffic of FHS is a huge issue, especially this year.

Hannah Kinson, a FHS Junior, when asked about this topic stated:

“There is barely enough room to walk two feet without getting in the way of someone and having someone get in your way.” Kinson feels as if the structure of the building does not support the amount of students FHS currently has.

Katie Grome, a Junior as well, agrees with Kinson and says:

“There are so many people who jam the hallways and make it more difficult to get around the school.” Grome even feels as if that sometimes the amount of people in the hallways can cause her to get to class shortly before the bell rings.

When asked about the issue, Mr. Light, the principal of FHS, agrees that hallway traffic is an issue at FHS. He states that the “new” FHS building is made to hold 1650 people, but currently it is holding 1730, which he believes makes it a little more snug in FHS, but not a deathly issue.

When asked what time during the schedule has the worst hallway traffic, Mr. Light answered with one word: “Lunch.” To fix this issue, Mr. Light said that administration had two plans. The first one was to stagger the lunch endings so the students in lunch would leave before the students who are coming to the next lunch period, which is currently in use. The second idea, which he said probably will not happen, is to have the lunches go by which floor you are on.

Mr. Light, when asked about comparing the old school to the new school, stated that the old school was “bigger not made better”, which made for the hallway traffic to not be as noticed.

Kinson agrees stating:

“I literally just walked and was not bothered by anything.” She states that now, in the new school, she bumps into people continuously and that in the old school, she did not.

Grome kind of agrees but said that there was still some traffic in the old school: “I think some areas of the old school had worse traffic like C wing, but many other areas of the old school had much less traffic than the new school.”

In the end, Mr. Light says that administration does notice the hallway traffic and will still look into a solution, but in the future, he states, that there will be less students because the elementary schools have a less amount of students then they usually had in the past.

If you notice too that the hallway traffic is too much for you to handle, you can always go and see what you can do to help it get better!