Hall passes are being more strongly enforced in the 2022-2023 school year. There are definitely pros and cons to this but many students are dreading it.

Hall passes aren’t preventing wandering, and in fact they are fanning the flames of fury for students that actually have to use the restroom. Junior Cassidy Yourg says, “if someone is wandering, someone who has to use the restroom can’t go; so that’s kind of frustrating.”

Students are bringing them to the restroom. There isn’t a way to sanitize the passes, and if teachers write individual notes it can take time away from learning. 

This is also a health concern for many students, Yourg adds, “People have to carry them to the bathroom, and that’s kind of gross.” Especially after the COVID-19 pandemic schools should be being careful with passing diseases around, and hall passes are a great way to spread them.

Although the hall passes are cutting down the amount of wandering, they aren’t stopping it.  Senior Hannah Wilken states, “I don’t mind them, they’re kind of outdated though.” Students aren’t taking hall passes seriously, so there is not a lot of point to their purpose. 

Hall passes aren’t doing anything but causing students that actually have to use the restroom to panic about whether or not they will truly make it there.