Annica Dupre
The DHS student parking lot is filled with cars during the school day.
The DHS 2025-2026 school year comes with lots of changes, with some seemingly more bothersome than beneficial.
One of the biggest changes this year affects the DHS driving population. Students are no longer able to park in a section of the parking lot at the front of the school, and instead have to park in the student parking lot at the back of the school. This change leaves the back parking at near full-capacity every day, while the front parking lot has many empty spaces, especially in the back where students used to be able to park. Students have not turned a blind eye to this abnormality.
“I think it’s stupid because it’s only the first month of school and pretty much the whole [back] parking lot is full,” one junior who wishes to stay anonymous commented. “When more kids get their licenses, there won’t be enough spots.”
“I just think that it’s unfair that we have to go to the back parking lot when there aren’t even that many teachers in the front,” senior Molly Cunningham complained. “Especially when it’s cold outside and going up those stairs can be really slippery and possibly a hazard. I think the front [parking lot] should be first come, first serve.”
Students also have to pay $60 for a parking pass every year. When questioned on what that money is used for, Principal Ryan Shea noted the upgrades to the staff parking lot, as well as upgrades to the entirety of DHS parking areas.
“They’ve re-done the bays in between the staff parking lot,” he said in a podcast interview. “They’ve replanted [and] took up some concrete and re-put curbing in. They relined some of the parking lot. Also, they’ve updated some lights as well as cameras.” He went on to say that the funds will also be allocated towards redoing the faded signage in the lots.
Another change this year takes place inside the school. In an attempt to curb the number of students who took advantage of the previous paper hall pass policy (try saying that five times fast), and to make moving around the school “easier” for students, the administration has made use of SmartPass. This application on every student’s computer and every teacher’s chosen device digitizes the way students are accounted for when they need to leave a classroom.
Along with this, faculty and staff who have downloaded the app can see which students are out of the classroom, how long they’ve been out of class (there’s a seven-minute timer for most trips), which class they are coming from, and where they left from.
On paper, this seems like a good plan. It can be inconvenient to take out your computer in a class if it’s not already out, but if perfectly executed, the benefits are clear; teachers know where students are, and they can keep track of how long they’ve been out, two things essential to student performance. As mentioned again and again by the administration, “students need to be in class to learn.”
Nevertheless, SmartPass has not been perfectly executed. An entire day to learn something may seem like a long time, but considering that some teachers aren’t as technologically savvy as others, and that the teachers didn’t even get an entire day to learn it, (not to mention they learned from an online video) flaws are prone to happen.
“My teacher can’t figure out how to make and approve a round-trip pass,” junior Arushi Patel stated. “So I have to use two passes just to make one trip to see a teacher and back. Now I only have two more passes for the whole day.”
The administration may like to say that SmartPass is helping students stay in class and gain more learning time, but SmartPass, along with the bathroom being closed for “five minutes” (but often much, much longer, and sometimes never opening at all) during the beginning and end of class is only an obstacle to learning.
“If I’m on A floor,” said senior Sloane Brodsky, “I shouldn’t have to go to the front of the school 10 minutes int0 class and wait in line to use the bathroom because that’s the only one that’s open. That’s more than seven minutes, and now I’m penalized for it?”
On the topic of obstacles to learning, phone usage in-school has been a tricky topic at DHS. Last year, phones were supposed to go into the “cellphone hotel” at the beginning of every class, but by the end of the year, the severity of the rule boiled down to teachers saying, “I just don’t want to see your phone in class.”
This year, it’s much stricter, and for good reason. Studies show again and again that phone usage in school makes students lose focus, creates an environment where issues such as bullying can flourish, and distracts students from learning.
But in order to ensure that students have enough time to academically enrich themselves, students are now required to put their phone in the cellphone hotel during PASE, rendering them unable to use their phones during that period. During my class assembly at the start of the year, Assistant Principal Michael Martin framed the change as an effort to limit the number of people failing their classes. With less distractions in PASE, he believes students will feel inclined to do their school work.
While this may be true for some, it’s certainly not for others. Regardless of having a phone nearby or not, some students won’t or can’t do their work in PASE. As someone who gets most of their work done at home, I don’t mind not having my phone; it’s just inconvenient not to be able to do work because of the noisy atmosphere and not having my phone to cure my boredom.
“I honestly believe the ‘no-phones’ during PASE is insane,” junior Gabriella Ligotti complained. “I’m a straight-A student, and last year I wouldn’t have work to do because I completed most of it for homework. Unfortunately, some people don’t have many friends in PASE and don’t have their phones to rely on, so what do they do? Stare at a wall? It’s quite ridiculous in my opinion.”
All of this being said, it is only the beginning of the first quarter. There is a ton of time to improve the rules to make them as productive as possible to both staff and students. The question that remains is if the administration will make the effort to make those changes.