It’s been about a month since the beginning of school, and therefore the introduction of hall passes to LHS. Every student here is familiar with the new system at this point. These new policies have brought noticeable changes, both positive and negative. The effects of their implementation are becoming more visible as the semester progresses.
School administration’s intentions were good with the pass system, and many goals they set have been achieved. For example, most bathrooms have stayed open all the time—a welcome change given their condition in past years. Hallways are clear and open. Many people are happy with a more controlled learning environment and everything feels a lot more organized.
However, we the students still don’t feel entirely content with the system. We feel as though we’ve gone from one extreme to another within the school. There certainly needed to be a change to the laid-back, and quite frankly, disorderly school environment of last year, but instead of easing into a more disciplined system, the switch was abrupt.
Though the aims of the system have been largely achieved, they’ve done so at the cost of much of student’s freedom. Movement around the school is very restricted at any given time, and it’s difficult to meet with teachers. Instead of leaving class, people now leave the school campus, making the problem more difficult to manage. The production and usage of hall passes are wasteful as well; hundreds of yellow paper slips are thrown in the trash every day. Also, the use of passes in lecture-based classes is highly disruptive, making it hard for both students who need to interrupt a lesson and teachers who need to stop their lesson.
Some revisions to the pass system could include reusable passes. One large stack of reusable passes that can be sanitized in each classroom would be a sustainable alternative. This way, we could cut back on the amount of paper we use as a school. However, most of these issues are inherent and can’t be resolved unless the pass system is abolished entirely, which isn’t the solution either. We urge the administration to consider these concerns and address them accordingly.
