The school district of Palm Beach County had given Santaluces permission to administer final exams early in the morning and release students in the afternoon.

“I don’t think they’re gonna do it for all high schools but we were the first ones,” said Mr. Krupa, “As soon as I heard about it, I had Mr. Ramos call the bus compound, so we got hooked in at the end of last year for this.”

According to Krupa, this isn’t a new idea. For years, the district has been blocking this development. It had been done before, but the problem was that the buses had to run an extra route, which forced the school to pay more for the buses to run at 11:30 a.m. if they were to pick students up.

However, now bus drivers are on different contracts, said Mr. Krupa. They are able to pick up students from school at 11 a.m. without the school paying extra expenses and taking the resulting financial hit.

This all allows the School District to give the go-ahead to having exams start at 7:30 a.m. and dismiss students around 11:30 a.m.

Students and teachers alike have expressed how beneficial the change in this exam schedule will be.

“I think that’s awesome,” said government teacher, Mrs. Weber. “It gives [students] the rest of the day off, [allowing students] to see their grades. Teachers can let you know where you stand with time to grade papers.”

Students see this new opportunity as a positive.

“That’s great,” said Junior Vanessa Julien. “It’s so much better.”

The new final exam schedule change allows students a better sleeping schedule, as well as a less stressed-out way of getting to school in the morning, without begging off for rides at 10:30 a.m., like they do on LTM days. It also gives teachers a chance to grade before the day is over.