Jolene Martinez –

The View –  

This school year, Castle View introduced the new Mosaic Academy. Next year, students may get to sleep in longer.

Studies show teens need on average 9 ½  hours of sleep each night. And with the new 5th hour, that just might be possible.

Fifth hour is an extra class at the end of the school day. School officials believe the additional class will not only allow better use of the school building, but also provide more flexibility for classes.

“We need to offer 5th hour because we are running out of classrooms during the day,” Dean of Students Ryan Hollingshead said. Expanding the schedule would “accommodate more students in our building and allow CV to continue to grow and fulfill all of our open-enrollment demand.”

The whole idea is set up like this: Students who choose to take a 5th hour class would begin their day at 9:10 a.m., at the start of advisement, and end at 4:30 p.m. Any class can be offered for 5th hour. But the classes need at least 25 students.

Hollingshead recommends this option for students who have their own transportation and who do not have any after-school activities.

The idea does not appeal to sophomore Marissa Murphy.

“For me, it would not be very convenient because my siblings get out at 4 p.m. and it would mess up my schedule,” Murphy said.

Several students agreed they wouldn’t like to stay after school because it would interfere with after-school activities.

“I didn’t see any classes I could take for the 5th hour,” said Cassidy Arnold, a sophomore.

But senior Sawyer Slater said if she were here next year she would take the option “because I like my sleep and it’s been proven that if you start school later in the day you get more work done.”