Seniors received their yearbooks this afternoon, one week sooner than they have in past years, after a decision to distribute yearbooks early was made by school administrators this semester, according to student activities director Joann Vaars.

“The kids deserve to get them earlier than the last day of school,” yearbook advisor and art teacher David Camner said.

In the past, yearbooks have not been issued before the last week of school so that students are not distracted during class time.

“The behavior with yearbooks in the classrooms will determine whether or not we’ll be able to do this [release yearbooks early] next year,” Camner said. “If teachers have a problem, we won’t do it again.”

One reason for the early release is that the 100 building, where all art supplies and yearbooks are held, is being cleared for renovation next week.

“We want to make it easier on Mr. Camner, while he’s moving out of his classroom,” Vaars said.

Another motivating factor was to absolve book fines earlier. Students cannot receive their yearbooks until all bills are paid. This does, however, raise the concern that books that are due at the end of school, after yearbooks are handed out, may not be returned to teachers, due to the lack of incentive. Teachers and administrators hope this will not be a problem.

“I believe we have a great deal of things in place to prevent this from becoming a disaster,” Vaars said.

Students are pleased to have their yearbooks earlier, especially the seniors who customarily get them the day before everyone else.

“I think it’s good because we get more time to sign yearbooks,” senior Amanda Wiesner said. “When you get it on the last day of school, it’s hard to get everyone to sign it.”