At the beginning of this year, there was a big crackdown on phones and phone usage. These rules are going to remain the exact same, with no changes.

Students have adhered well to these new rules, and there have been very few issues surrounding the ban on phones, so the administration decided to keep the same rules.

The largest change coming to ADM is the open period policy. The current policy for open campus is that 10-12th graders have open lunch and open study halls unlimited as long as they satisfy the requirements (passing all classes, etc.)

These policies were put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic, when ADM didn’t have enough space to accommodate all students with adequate distance apart.

Principal Lee Griebel shares, “Now we’re down to manageable class sizes where we can fit all ninth and tenth graders back into the lunchrooms,” Griebel said. Now that COVID is not at high risk anymore, ADM is going back to how open campus was pre-COVID.

Next year, students in grade 12 will experience no changes to what they have experienced in their time in high school. However, grades 9-11 will experience a new set of rules.

Students at ADM are pretty angered by these rules, especially underclassmen. Sophomore Madden Doll shares that she is frustrated by the revived pre-COVID rules.

“I feel like a lot of us are responsible [enough] to have opens and it’s more beneficial for school work when I need to actually do it,” Doll said. She shares that she feels that she does her work better at home and would prefer to be able to leave.

Something that’s new this year and carrying into next is that it is now Iowa law that to graduate high school, you must pass the civics test. This test is a simple history sort of exam that has 62 questions.

Class of 2026 seniors completed it this year, setting the bar for each grade to come.

This is a graduation requirement and if you are unable to pass the test, you will not be eligible to graduate.

If you find yourself feeling nervous, there are several websites that can prepare you for this test.

This may seem stressful but “we’re going to offer the test once a year to students and once you pass the civics test, you’re good for the remainder of your high school career,” Griebel said.

This means that you have up to four times to take it and pass, starting with the class of 2030. All grades will take this test next year, and once they pass, they will never have to take it again.

Senior Mackenzie Postel got a 62/62 on the civics exam this year and shares, “it was really easy . . . I grinded with the Quizlet, and the Quizlet has all the answers, so if you just memorize it you’re good.”

The food and drink rules will remain the same as they have been for the latter half of this year. No food outside of the lunchroom without specific teacher permission and any non-water drinks must have a lid.

Teachers may have their own leniency on the food rules, but these are the rules officially stated in the handbook.

Friday’s new schedule is the most difficult change for the mass of the student body. Students will be required to stay for thirty more minutes of class time on Fridays, moving the release time to 1:05, as students in grades 9-10 are also required to stay for lunch. Upperclassmen will have open lunch and be allowed to leave after their classes end for the day.

All students will also have advisory on Fridays, instead of an optional intervention. Griebel shares that it’s unclear whether Advisory will remain on Mondays or if it will move to Fridays.

Lunches will be split by grade level on Fridays, rather than by classes. Underclassmen will have lunch first before their last class, and Upperclassmen will have their 8th period before they are released for Lunch.

Griebel shared that the reason for the change is due to the bus scheduling. “We found that there was an inefficiency when we would release and then our kids would have to stand around for a long time for the bus to come,” said Griebel.

Since students have been getting released at 12:10, bus riders often wait until close to 12:45 for their buses to arrive. Moving the dismissal time to be closer to the middle school’s will create a more efficient window of time for students who rely on a bus.