Gunderson Hallway Regulations

Are Gunderson Hallway Passes Being Used Correctly?

Quan Nguyen, Staff Writer

Hallway passed are known to schools across the United States allowing students to use the restroom in times of need as to not disturb classroom learning. However, some students have abused this privilege to escape academic learning in order to talk with friends. These few outliers that use the hallway pass system cause major problems for those looking to use the restroom seeing as how they miss ideal learning time. It is because of these few students that teachers are more hesitant to allow students to leave class in the case of an emergency ruining a perfectly good system for those in need.

Schools across the country however have found ways to identify those leaving class and to regulate the amount of time spent away from academic learning. Madras High School located in Oregon has implemented a series of orange construction vest that must be worn in order to use the restroom. This system helps staff to identify those seeking to use the restroom and those looking to either skip class or school itself. Gunderson High School at the current moment uses a series of identical hallway passes that can be used in the case of using the restroom and or other activities such as drinking water. The major problem to this issue is that many teachers discontinue the use of signing hallway passes since it requires the teacher to stop their academic learning in order to accommodate the students need. This becomes even more troublesome when staff and administration allow those same students to travel around campus away from class.

An anonymous student from Lincoln High School had to say “You don’t even need a hall pass since they never check them but they want you to have one anyway.” The lack of staff regulation in regard to hallway passes shows how many staff members become lazy over the course of the school year.

Some teachers however, have implemented bathroom passes which allow for students to only use the bathroom a certain amount of times per semester. Some teachers go even further by allowing extra-credit to be obtained from unused bathroom passes, giving students an incentive to wait for a passing period or what not. No matter the case more teachers and administrative should look for more creative ways to discourage hallway pass misconduct within the halls of Gunderson.