By: David Rosa Da Costa

With a new school principal and new administration comes a new way to lead the school. This year, the administrators are working towards having empty halls and kids in class and on time. Since the start of the 2023-2024 school year, administration has given out specific hallway passes to ensure that wandering is no longer a factor.

“As an administration, we stressed the importance of being at school and also in class, which is important to me,” said Mt. Hebron Principal Katie Clark.

Getting to class on time in high school has always been an issue.  The five-minute pauses between breaks might seem like enough, but for some students, it is not. While most students get to class much before the bell rings, some are unfortunately stuck behind and labeled as tardy. However, some students remain unaffected by the new hallway policies. 

“Other people skipping does not affect me. Those who always skip are [now] just going to be in class more often,” said Mt. Hebron senior Leo Bruk.

While arriving on time is important, being in class the entire time is a separate issue. The administration has taken measures to improve the checking of hall passes and ensure students are not abusing the use of hall passes.

To counteract the wanderers that roam through the halls, the administration adopted a new system of multiple color passes, such as those for Viking time, bathroom, or coming late to school. With these passes, the administration hopes to control and monitor students more effectively. However, some students disagree with certain pass rules.

“Let people go where they want to go. Having a pass is so weird for Viking time. Just make sure no one is roaming, it is [as] simple as that,” said Bruk. 

Students may not favor the new policy, but the new hallway passes have proven to be successful by reducing the number of people who skip class. 

“We have seen a drastic improvement with minimal people in the hallway during class time,” stated Ms. Clark.

While the school hallways have been managed and have seen improvements, students still find conflicts with their arrival to school. In the mornings, some students arrive on time but due to chaos in the student parking lot, they end up missing the bell and some of the start of class. 

“It disrupts learning when people walk in late but then again it’s understandable because of the poorly designed student parking lot,” said Bruk. 

However there is a school policy that targets those who arrive late to school and also reduces the impact of the tardiness on students.

“The system that we have in place when someone is late to school, there is some grace, I think there are, three warnings without any consequence, and that is documented,” said Ms. Clark.

As the school year progresses, the administration has already seen an improvement with their new initiatives, and they continue to come up with new ideas on how to keep hallways empty and classes full.