Roseville High School has the shortest passing period out of any RJUHSD site. Six minutes. Six minutes to dash between two classrooms separated by slender hallways, teeming with over two thousand students, visit one of the neglected restrooms, or get a sip of water out of a fountain – if you can find one that functions. Oakmont, Granite Bay and Antelope get seven minutes. Woodcreek gets eight. Eight.

Roseville has the shortest passing period in the district, despite having the most difficult campus to navigate. 

It’s been ten months since the groundbreaking of the auxiliary gym and as the construction nears completion, the athletics department is preparing to adjust to the new space. And with talks of a dedicated wrestling and cheer practice room, things are looking up. 

On the flip side, it’s been ten months and the campus has still not adjusted to the construction. The portables wing built out over a quarter of a mile away from the main office is only accessible through a tiny six to eight foot wide fenced in pathway that snakes through the construction zone. 

Even with the extra congestion between the portables and the rest of campus, we have not extended the passing periods to compensate. Even trying to get between the cafeteria and a portable is difficult, and the cafeteria isn’t even the furthest building.

Although this might be an extreme or unusual case, if you have a class in the art wing followed by a class in the portables, you have to walk nearly one third of a mile. In six minutes! The average human pace is about one mile every 20 minutes. If my math is right that means it should take nearly seven to walk a third of a mile. 

So not only is expecting that kind of distance to be done in that period of time unrealistic, it leaves no time at all to take care of any personal needs. Even if your classes are in the same hallway, sometimes you need to spend more than two or three minutes in the restroom. That’s just human nature. 

Nevermind how long you should expect to wait in line for a stall. I’m extremely privileged as a male to not have to deal with that but nevertheless I’m sympathetic for my classmates waiting in line for the women’s room. The only place I’ve seen lines longer was Disneyland.

RHS dismisses at 2:30 p.m on regular days, every other RJUHSD site dismisses at 2:35 p.m. I’d certainly be willing to give up five extra minutes of my day for an extra sixty seconds during passing period. Especially because that means less stress. And if you ask me, any amount of stress lifted off a teen’s shoulders is good.