Everyone knows the beloved time of day when people can fill their stomachs with school lunches, spend time with the people they don’t get to see throughout the day and go ask their teachers questions about their schoolwork. This time is otherwise known as Liberty Hour.

There has been a lot of controversial talk about the school administration changing the schedule for next year and taking away Liberty Hour due to students not attending their tutoring sessions when they are assigned. That is not yet the case at all.

“Next year we still have not decided 100 percent, but it will probably be that we move Liberty Hour out of lunch,” assistant principal Brett Coffman said.

There are many different opinions on the Liberty Hour change. Some students and teachers agree that changing the schedule can benefit us as a school and help raise grades in the school system while others believe there is nothing good coming out of the change.

“Regardless of what the school does, it’s never going to change fully. People are still going to leave, they’re still going to order food and they’re still not going to go to their tutoring,” sophomore Cameron Prater said. “Just because you change what it is, does not mean kids are going to change what they do.”

Although there has technically been a change already to the schedule of Liberty Hour for next year, that does not stop students from taking a stand and fighting for what they believe is the right thing for everybody.

“Liberty Hour helps a lot with sectionals for orchestra and other fine arts students,” freshmen Hollis Hagenbuch said. “There’s also a good amount of people who do go to their tutoring even if they don’t necessarily need to.”

Problems with Liberty Hour are definitely present all the time and that is something nobody can deny.

“Let them fail. It’s all on them,” Prater said.

Students are not picking up their trash and seniors leave the school to go get Chipotle and people even throw things around the hallways.

“I think having it associated with lunch is the main problem. That’s really making it difficult for our custodial crew and it’s making is so students don’t really go to clubs and stuff,” Koffman said. “If we had it at a different time and not at lunch, things would probably be attended at a higher rate.”

There is still some good in the 55 minutes students and teachers get in the middle of the day.

“The people actually going to tutoring, their grades are improving and they are understanding all of the subjects more,” Prater said. “There are times for clubs to meet during school and people can work on their music.”

All of this debate has been about the schedule next year, but what about for the rest of this school year? Since the threat of Liberty Hour being taken away, the tutoring attendance rate has risen to 75 percent all around LHS according to Mr. Coffman. Still, teachers and administrators don’t think that’s a good enough reason to keep the schedule the same even with the consequences of detentions being present.

“I feel like Liberty Hour is being taken advantage of by certain people who are getting it taken away for everybody else by not going to what they’re assigned. A lot of students are still doing what they are suppose to though,” senior Alexa Straws said.

Liberty hour has its advantages and disadvantages. The majority of people want it to stay because it’s just the best way people can get their work done.

“I don’t think we ever want to get rid of Liberty Hour because of all the people using it for their advantages and going to tutoring when their assigned,” Coffman said. “I think we just want to change the times on that and move it away from lunch.”