The intention behind hall passes is to permit students to leave class with permission from the instructor. Passes are generally used to run errands for the instructor or for the student to use the restroom. However, students are often seen walking around campus with no particular destination, abusing the actual purpose of hall passes. Sometimes students leave the classroom and don’t come back, instead strolling around campus with no destination.

Students who genuinely need hall passes shouldn’t be blamed for the actions of the few who abuse the system. The school is now cracking down on these people, instituting certain regulations for the purpose of nailing truant students. However, some of these regulations are flawed. For instance, one regulation states, “Students must show the teacher their photo ID prior to receiving an ‘Official’ Hall Pass.” Strictly adhering to this statement means students who are in a dire state of emergency without ID’s won’t be allowed out.

Instead, students with or without ID’s should be allowed to leave class with a legitimate excuse. Also, not all teachers have an Official Hall Pass (the school form that includes the name of student, teacher signature, date, time, and destination) in their classrooms that they can issue to students. Even with the Hall Pass protocol in effect, it may not be a success.

With only one student allowed to leave at a time per classroom, there still may be as many students roaming campus as there were before. The hall pass protocol has flaws to it, but with some adjustments it may turn into a more effective system. To ensure this hall pass system is fairly executed, all teachers should obtain, if they haven’t already, an Official Hall Pass and exempt the requirement of ID’s for those who are in a state of emergency.