For some, winter means hot cocoa, warm coats and Christmastime. But for students at

Southern Lehigh, it means waiting in the frigid Pennsylvania weather just to get into school.

Last year, Southern Lehigh made the decision to keep the school doors locked

until 7:20 a.m. With decreasing temperatures, students are left to freeze because their parents dropped them off too early, or they are waiting to enter the building to speak with teachers.

“For the people who get here earlier, they have to wait outside, and it’s really cold,” senior Hannah Docalovich said. “If you need extra help you won’t really have enough time.”

This change poses many difficulties besides having to brave the freezing temperatures, including club meetings. Many club meetings are held in the morning hours and are, therefore, forced to switch their meeting times from 7:10 a.m. or 7:15 a.m. to 7:20 a.m. The majority of students who are involved in these clubs know that this creates many new problems.

“It’s made Key Club meetings pretty short,” Key Club adviser and social studies teacher Mr. Tom Beaupre said.  “The students don’t really all get into the auditorium until at least 7:30. Everyone has to be in class by 7:40, so that only leaves us with about five minutes to have a meeting.”

The choice to lock the doors until 7:20 a.m. came from the concern that students

were coming in as early as 7:00 a.m. Teachers don’t have to arrive until 7:30 a.m., which allows

students time to roam the building unsupervised.

“We had some teachers who volunteered to be here at 7:20 a.m. to monitor students

entering the building and so that was the earliest we felt we’d be able to open it,” Southern Lehigh High School principal Mrs. Christine Siegfried said.

To be honest, before the rule was set in place, there were typically several teachers inside the school even before 7:20 a.m., so I do not understand the sudden concern and change.

“There are teachers who are here earlier by choice but aren’t necessarily on until

7:30 a.m. so teachers are still coming into the building when students are already

here,” family and consumer science teacher Mrs. Linda Gross said. “They’re still unsupervised, just for 10 minutes instead of 20 minutes. So it’s still kind of the same thing.”

After a year of implementation, the decision is proving to be ineffective and an inconvenience. So I say let’s stop this nonsense and just let the students in.