With a new school year comes new schedules and policies. This year in particular, a lot of changes came into effect Aug 8 at FHN.According to FHN principal Darlene Jones, the change that will have the most affect on students is the new technology policy. Fully aware of the fact that cell phones are just a part of life for teenagers, teachers in the District met last spring and opted to give students more freedom to use cell phones during school hours. Students are now allowed to use their cell phones during passing periods, lunch and in the classroom. If permitted by the teacher, cell phones may be used for educational purposes during class periods.

“I knew that our teachers would support it,” Jones said. “They are already seeing that our students are utilizing this technology to their advantage.”

Technology specialist and Spanish teacher Brian Santos believes that cell phones are highly valuable resources and intends to utilize them in his classes. He knows that there is some risk for abuse of the cell phone policy, but thinks the payoff can be much greater.

“I think that teachers should use cell phones in the classroom because part of being a teacher is taking risks,” Santos said. “I think students will like engaging with cell phones in the classroom because it’s something they’re familiar with.

Another change includes Infinite Campus Portal, which is responsible for stronger truancy enforcement and the splitting of core classes at the semester. Infinite Campus will be used as a tool of communication between teachers and parents this year. When a student is absent from school for two or more hours, the student’s parent will be notified through parent viewer.

This year, individual student schedules were generated by Infinite Campus. Through this system, the computer tried to ensure that each student received their first choice in electives, including one-semester electives. To fit in some of those electives, core classes were switched to a different hour second semester.

Six out of seven of junior Nathan Rhomberg’s classes change at semester. According to Rhomberg, that may take some getting used to.

“It’s going to be different definitely because I’m not used to switching,” Rhomberg said. “I’m used to having everything the same all year. If you’re with a really good friend first semester, then it would be a bummer because you wouldn’t be with them next semester.”