The passing time for this year’s midterm exam schedule was shortened to 10 minutes.

Since the high school no longer runs the same schedule as the middle school, the midterm schedule has also switched to avoid any issues resulting from high school classes sharing rooms with middle school classes.

Former assistant principal, Steve Purciello, originally recommended the new midterm schedule. John Arlotta, the high school principal, took this recommendation to heart and implemented the new passing time duration even after former assistant principal Purciello retired in December.

“It was his recommendation, and I think it was a solid recommendation,” Arlotta said. “If you are taking an exam until 12:15 p.m., that can be the period when the middle school has a class in particular room.”

Arlotta said the schedule was pushed up to “avoid some other conflicts.”

However, some high school students voiced discontent about the shortened passing time during their exams.

Cristal Santos, a senior, noticed the change in her fourth year at Glen Rock High School.

“I didn’t like it just because it didn’t give us enough time to process,” Santos said. “Already taking 2 hour midterms and immediately jumping into the next one was just really overwhelming.”

Frankie Evans, a senior, also felt that it was hard to get ready in 10 minutes.

“If you come from a class where you write a lot, it’s nice to have a break,” Evans said. She preferred the 25 minutes break because it gave her enough time to recuperate and have a bite to eat.

Gabby Piela, a senior, used to study between exams last year, but she could not do that this year.

“Last year, I could do some last minute studying in the passing time, but I didn’t have time to do that,” Piela said.

Arlotta has taken the feedback from students seriously.  Yet with the conflicting high school and middle school schedules, a universally pleasing solution is not here yet, he says.

On the other hand, the issue may soon cease to exist entirely. With the advent of PARCC testing throughout the year, midterm and final exams may soon become defunct.

“That is certainly a possibility. We are analyzing it after this first year,” Arlotta said. “We are all concerned with an increased amount of tests and, if there is a way we can reduce internally, we are open to that.”