Students are frustrated with the limited number of hall passes allowed during a semester, while administrators argue that it helps limit hall traffic and keeps students in class.
Boone uses a digital hall pass system called Securlypass, formerly known as E-Hallpass. It has many benefits for the school such as not allowing too many students out at a time, preventing students from skipping class, and keeping track of students for safety reasons.
The limit of 25 passes per semester is what creates friction between students and staff, with students arguing that the number is too small and administrators arguing that there are plenty.
Out of the 30 students surveyed for this story, some said Securelypass had beneficial aspects, but 23 respondents said that they don’t like the limit and wished they had more passes.
Senior Nick Hightchew says he usually has passes left over at the end of the semester, but he sees why students might run out.
“For some students, that number may not be enough based on the amount of days we have in a semester,” Hightchew said, pointing out that there are more than triple the number of days in semester as there are passes available.
The limit means that students have fewer than two passes per week on average.
Assistant principal Dustin Herald said if a student uses all the passes they are given, a total of 50, that is already a lot of time out of class.
“We do it that way to try and make students stay in class and to be engaged as long as possible,” Herald said.
Although most of the students that answered that form still had passes left over at the end of the semester, many students use restrooms in between classes to save passes, which is what the administrators suggest.
“You can go to and from class and still have enough time to use the restroom and go to your locker,” Herald said.
However, students argue that this can create a lot of traffic in the restrooms which causes tardiness.
For example, some girls restrooms only have three stalls, and there are a total of 47 stalls in girls restrooms in all of Boone, including five in the Performing Arts Center that are often not available to students during the school day.
The attendance office reports say that there are 559 girls in the school on an average day.
These numbers mean that waiting or even going to a different restroom can make students late to class.
Exceptions to the limit are granted to students who have certain conditions documented with a doctor’s note. However, menstrual cycles do not automatically fall under this exception.
“I have to go to the restroom at least once a day every day for two weeks,” junior Harmony Hiatt said. “Going during class change or lunch, the restroom is fuller than ever.”
Unlike Boone, Conner and Cooper high schools have a limit of two passes per day.
But Ryle High School has a limit of 20 per semester which is less than the passes given at Boone. However, Ryle is making a change next year.
“We have made the decision to move away from the electronic hall passes back to old school physical passes/agendas,” said Ryle librarian Michelle David in an email.
Some of the students who answered the survey said that they want to go back to physical passes rather than the online pass because it is more convenient and less time consuming for both students and teachers.
But physical passes have their pitfalls as well. These can include lost passes, untracked time out of class, and an unknown number of students in the halls and bathrooms at a time.
Herald said that the administration does accept feedback from stakeholders and could consider changing the school’s policy in the future.
