The number of students in Prior Lake High School has been growing larger throughout the years. Some believe the school’s design is bad and does not hold the number of students well. 

The halls of the school are heavily crowded, leaving students having to push through others to get to their classes and teachers sharing classrooms due to the lack of rooms for each individual teacher. 

The Prior Lake District is expanding the campus with more classrooms on the south side and more parking spaces on the west side of the school. 

With more space for classrooms, teachers who do not have a room will finally have their own space and stop switching to other rooms every single day. 

The problem in the halls is not just the number of students, but groups of people crowded daily in the same spots, which is mainly on the 2nd floor in the ‘B’ pod. 

The ‘B’ pod is a popular place for students to meet up and talk, but it’s also the main hallway every student has to use to get to class. 

With all the students crowding in the middle of the hall, other students are forced to push through the crowd trying to get to their classes on time. 

Kevin Bustos, a Prior Lake senior, said, “Yeah, I have to go through that mess every day; it gets really annoying and old having to crowd like that. There’s enough space anywhere else to talk but they pick in the middle of the hall.” 

Many students are very irritated at the fact people stand in the halls instead of going to class. 

Talking in big crowds like that are for places like the lunchroom, but students still do not choose to move even if someone walks right through the circles they make to talk. 

Being a former Burnsville High School student, standing in the halls was not allowed and a student would get scolded to go to class by teachers or hall monitors and even the principal, but at Prior Lake, the hall monitors simply stand there and watch as everyone has to squeeze through the crowds. 

Camille Hernandez, a Prior Lake senior who transferred this year from Highland Park High School, said, “Yeah it’s crazy how crowded the school is. It was crowded at my old school but the way people stand in the way is tiring.” 

As Hernandez said, the students in the way should find a different spot and not be in people’s way who are going to class. 

Students only have 5 minutes to get to class but that time is shortened from being held back in hall traffic throughout the school. 

The school should work on getting those students to class so others can get to their own. The school staff does nothing about the groups of people blocking the halls, even if they see students struggling every day. 

Bustos said, “I’m a big dude and I like my space. Having to bump and touch people is not something I like to do every day.” 

You can see on student’s faces as you walk by them that they’ve had enough of pushing and simply want to get to class. 

Students should not be allowed to stand in the way of the busiest halls blocking the way for other students and the school should learn to enforce rules upon those who do.