When coming into Patriot High School freshman year, teachers spoke on the idea of flexing to being a sort of study hall or an opportunity to go to other classes within a student’s schedule. While some teachers stand by their words, others use flex time to teach or assign more work towards students defying what flex was once promoted as. 

In a survey conducted independently, 81% of students who attended Patriot High School said they believe that teachers take advantage of flex time. 

Nicholas Grove, a health and physical education teacher as well as a baseball coach for the boys’ team at Patriot, spoke on how he believes flex time is supposed to be used by teachers. Grove stated, “…flex is for remediation or reteaching. Just not introducing new material ‘cause that’s not what we’re supposed to do.” 

In recent events within Prince William County, students have experienced six full days worth of snow days. This led to the executive decision for Patriot to start the no flexing out rule (during the month of February), mandating that students must make up class time during flex.  

Grove went on to say, “… every teacher has their own prerogative of how they use the [flex] time… we’ve had a lot of snow days and stuff, so I think maybe some teachers might be trying to feel like they need to get caught up…” 

But before any of this began, students have been seen roaming around the hallways during flex time and even during actual class time. From skipping class by asking to use the bathroom and walking around with friends to just not showing up to class has become a new norm at Patriot and teachers and staff have realized this.  

56% of students at Patriot have admitted in a survey to purposely missing school; 41% of students have left class for more than 10 minutes to roam around, and 22% of students have used a flex pass not for its intended purpose.

Alyssa Stoffer, the Dean of Students at Patriot has noticed the issues with flex passes not being used for their intended purpose and stated, “We are re-looking at the system as a whole, and kind of brainstorming on how to zero in on that.” 

Michael Murphy, the Head of Security at Patriot, added to Stoffer’s thought saying, “Students need to understand the freedom they are actually given. We don’t want to see flex or something like that go away… So, in order to keep [flex] going in an efficient matter, we really need the buy in from the students as well.” 

But this issue is not only faced at Patriot. In Prince William County Schools, there has been chronic absenteeism since the pandemic – nearly at 22% in 2023. However, this seems to be a common trend all over the United States. 

Although chronic absences have decreased from its peak in 2022, it remains over 50% higher since pre-covid times in the United States. The Los Angeles Times believes that this is the result of high-income students and high achievers skipping school, students thinking school is ‘boring’, and mental health issues. 

Around 73% of Patriot students are not considered economically disadvantaged, and students have answered in the survey that they have skipped flex time simply because they “did not want to go”. 

Principal David Van Gelder was newly appointed in 2025 after Michael Bishop’s leave and students at Patriot have seen a change in rules since. Under Bishop’s reign at Patriot, students felt like school was more laid back and there were less consequences towards actions, but now they feel the opposite. 

One student who asked to stay anonymous stated, “I think it was stricter with [Dr.]  Bishop regarding approval for school events, but little precautions were taken to help students’ education. I think Mr. Van Gelder has implemented better rules.” 

Another student mentioned, “[Rules were more] laid back, we had [set] rules [under Bishop’s administration] they just weren’t enforced.” 

Although students believe that under Van Gelder’s administration there are more rules, lots of students appreciate it. 

One student who asked to stay anonymous stated, “Our new principal is awesome! [The] only issue with flex now is the most recent rule of not being able to flex out, hopefully it goes back to normal soon.” 

Another one mentioned, “I feel like it is a better and more comfortable environment however I do wish teachers would be more lenient on the adding of coursework and flexing out.” 

Students’ thoughts on the new administration show how students do not necessarily care that there are repercussions towards actions, but they do still want freedom to be an option at Patriot. 

During Bishop’s administration on the Patriot website, it was stated that chronic absences as well as chronic tardiness will lead to consequences of detention, but students didn’t start seeing this rule being upheld until Van Gelder’s administration in hopes of promoting students arriving and being at school during proper times. 

A student who asked to remain anonymous stated, “During when [Dr.] Bishop was principal I never got anything but letters home from the county [talking about absences] but ever since sophomore year, I started getting in-school detentions that have even carried on more often this year.” 

Stoffer spoke about if there has been a decrease in tardies and absences after implementing more detentions and stated, “No, there’s a lot of repeat offenders. It’s a lot of people that are choosing consistently to not go to class or to cut class or to not come to school. Sometimes detentions work, sometimes they don’t.” 

Members of Patriot staff have now implemented tardy sweeps in hopes of preventing tardiness and skipping class.  

In a school wide email, it provided the consequences for each offense in being caught during a tardy sweep. The first offense being a warning and the fourth being Saturday detention. 

Patriot has now had two tardy sweeps, and more is yet to come, but this raises the question if it will truly be effective enough to reduce tardies and skipping class. 

Based on the survey, it seems as if students are primarily skipping during school due to learning during flex time which was promoted as a study hall and simply not wanting to go to class. 

Although detention and tardy sweeps may be effective, there will still be a population of students that are unhappy with their schedule or have other issues and decide to skip. 

The Patriot staff considers students and wants to make sure they are in a safe and happy environment and understand why they are skipping instead of giving out consequences right away. 

Stoffer explained, “Most of the time, the first time I see a student [doing something they’re not supposed to do] … it’s really just a conference, a conversation where we talk about what happened… I very rarely immediately go to a detention unless it’s really egregious.” 

This is why Patriot has newly started the club Student Voice Committee, where students get to communicate concerns with Van Gelder and other teachers which is appreciated by many students. 

No matter what, some classes will be hard and sometimes pile on work, but that is just how school is. However, it is a student’s responsibility to attend school and do their work, so there is no excuse for skipping, but Patriot students and staff are trying to find ways to work together to solve the issue.