Homeroom has been one of the more controversial of the School’s changes this year. Marlborough was long overdue for a better attendance system, as I know many of us only used the Visitu tablet in the event that we were caught speed-walking past it by a security guard. However, I firmly believe that homeroom is not the solution.

Since 2017, the teachers in first-period courses have been checking students in for attendance and in 2022 began monitoring our uniforms as well. These first-period teachers served the same purpose as our advisors/homeroom teachers do now, all without the inconvenience of an extra walk in the morning and the need to budget your time to not be late to first-period.

My advisory is located in the deep trenches of the basement, the furthest point on campus from both the parking lot and my classes, which are all located upstairs. This leads to what I like to call the morning rush: The only time I have ever had to resort to running in the ever-graceful halls. I often get to school two hours before homeroom begins, and yet with the new tardy policy, if I do not run from my homeroom to my first period, which usually happens to be on the other end of the school, I will be late, which has already happened a few times this school year despite my sprints. 

For those of you who enjoy the pause that homeroom adds to your morning, we could have homeroom in our first-period classes, which would allow us to form bonds with classmates. The relationships fostered with peers in homeroom would make everyone more willing to share notes when people miss class or help out when someone doesn’t understand the lesson, forming more valuable relationships than the people you see more consistently in advisory. I’m going to go out on a limb here and also say that it may reduce talking in class as the five minutes give students a chance to catch up with one another before learning begins. 

If we revert back to taking attendance and doing uniform checks during first-period, which takes significantly less time than homeroom, it could bring back our beloved 10-minute break between third and fourth periods. Those short 10 minutes gave me an opportunity to stock up on snacks from the Caf or indulge in a cup of frozen yogurt to get me through my day.

Why must we run between two separate locations, when our first-period teachers can just use Ruvna like our advisors?