Major changes are being made at North Platte High School. The changes include closing the campus, altering graduation requirements, and modifying summer school.

Principal James Ayres said next year freshmen, sophomores, and juniors will have a closed campus. “Out periods will only be offered to seniors during first and fourth periods. He also said instead of three lunches, there will be four, 30-minute lunches with a five-minute passing period. “Most senior classes will have the latest lunch” Ayres said. The building will become more secure. “To ensure safety for students, a buzzer will be installed at the front entrance,” he said. Seniors will have different colored ID’s to signal that they are allowed to leave the building. The principals said seniors may only have one out-period per term and to earn two out-periods, students have to be on track to graduate. Students may earn two additional out-periods if they are proficient on their NeSA tests. Senior Tyler Weeth doesn’t agree with the closed campus, “I think the juniors should be allowed to leave because it’s a tradition.”

The graduation requirements have also changed. Now, students will have to take four years of English and a quarter of communications; three years of math, Algebra I required; and three years of science including physical science, biology and an elective science class. The social studies requirements include world history, American history, American government, and five additional elective hours. Only two years of physical education will be required, but students are encouraged to team sports as a freshman. Info-tech is no longer required, but it will be required that students take other computer-oriented classes. Ayres said he wanted to change the requirements so that students have more time to take elective classes, when they may not have had the chance to before. This also opens up opportunities for career education and to have internships or job-shadow people with the careers that they may be interested in.
Summer school is also being modified. In the past, the only summer school that was offered was credit recovery, in which students would have to pay a $100 fee. Now, all summer school is free, including credit recover. Other courses include PE classes, a course to make up English 9, and an eighth to ninth-grade transition class. Students who struggle in school would be taught reading, writing, math, and study skills to help be prepared for high school and become acquainted with the building. The course would count as an elective.

Summer school would take place from 8:00 a.m.-11:30 a.m. and last about a month. “I think [at first] we won’t have a lot of students take these courses during the summer, but then after a little bit, they’ll start to opt into it,” Ayres said. “I’m excited for the students and the opportunity for them to take more classes.”