Updated April 6 at 10:05 am

At approximately 4:01 p.m. on March 20, students received an email titled “2026-2027 Planning Letter.” This letter contained the changes Principal Michael Miller had implemented for the 2026-2027 school year. Just 30 minutes prior, staff received the same email, along with additional information regarding the next school year. Some minor changes include letter grades and how Indiana high schools would be measured. Major changes include FAST Friday, Office Hours, IMPACT, Senior Flex, final exemptions, and phones.

These topics have previously been discussed, but haven’t taken full effect until this year. In February, LHS had put up slideshows on the TVs regarding the number of students staying for FAST Friday. Along with this, Miller had expressed his concern, stating that FAST Friday would be taken away for all students if the numbers continued to increase. Since then, numbers of students with D’s and F’s has decreased, going from 44% at the time of the announcement to around 20-30%.

With FAST Friday being taken away completely, junior Bernardo Ortiz is opposed to this change.

“I feel like doing my work on FAST Friday would help me catch up on my assignments,” Ortiz said. “I always get my work done on FAST Fridays, along with getting help from the teachers now and then, which I respect.”

FAST Friday has been used as a way to help students who were failing classes catch up on their assignments, as well as get extra help from their teachers. With the number of D’s and F’s increasing over the time that FAST Friday has been in place, concern grew as more and more students were required to stay for intervention.

With this, freshman Cooper Bricknell feelings getting rid of FAST Friday isn’t as good an idea as the administration thinks.

“Attendance is one of their [the school’s] main problems, and banning FAST Fridays might just make it worse,” Bricknell said. “Since people won’t have the option to leave, more are going to just not show up.”

Along with FAST Friday going away, other incentives such as office hours and Senior Flex are being changed as well. Before, students who qualified for either would be able to leave school grounds. Now, students who qualify will be expected to stay on school grounds in either the Student Union or the ACHIEVE Center.

Ortiz feels students won’t feel happy about the changes to office hours and Senior Flex.

“We’ve been trying to get office hours by getting our grades up, and now with it being gone, why take it away after we’ve tried our hardest and put in our time and effort just for it to vanish next year?” Ortiz said. “With Senior Flex, I disagree with the new plan. I think it’s not gonna be great for the incoming seniors. It’s just going to be complaints of us not having freedom to leave campus and come back to school to finish out the day.”

In early March, Indiana Governor Mike Braun signed Senate Bill 78, which enforced a “bell-to-bell” ban on all cell phones in Indiana schools. This would mean that all cell phones and other personal electronic devices would have to be placed in students’ lockers from the start of the school day to the end. Along with cell phones, other electronic devices such as smartwatches, tablets, and laptops will also follow the “bell-to-bell” ban.

With this in mind, sophomore Emma Rogers feels that the ban will affect the way she utilizes her phone and smartwatch.

“I know that I always check in with my parents during lunch, and the ‘bell-to-bell’ ban will disrupt that,” Rogers said. “I know that if a practice gets canceled or a sporting event is delayed, then I will let my parents know at lunch. The new ban won’t allow me to do that. I know that I always wear my Apple Watch throughout the day, and I think the new ban won’t allow me to do that. I use my watch to look at the weather and check my heart rate after I have my weights class, just to make sure it’s normal. I won’t be able to wear it, which I think is a little silly because I can’t communicate on my watch without my phone.”

With Rogers worrying about how she will be able to communicate with her parents if something changes, Bricknell doesn’t fully understand the point of banning phones during school hours.

“The only real threat they have is not paying attention,” Bricknell said. “I also don’t think our community, along with others, is safe enough to have no phones. We have bigger things to worry about than phones in schools and students not paying attention.”