“Hall sweep!” “Late bus? Take this yellow slip.” “Why are you still in the hallway? Get to class!”

There are yellow and green passes everywhere now. They are passed out during classes and sometimes as soon as you get off the bus. This form of targeting tardiness and minimizing the amount of students loitering in the hallway has always been in place, but its never been as strictly supervised as it is now. This has been sparking backlash and criticism by students for being too strict.

While this stricter regulation may not be my favorite either, I don’t see it as unreasonable. I actually applaud the school and district for trying to crack down on this issue. Students are upset, but the school is simply doing its job and finally fully enforcing the rules already put into place. They are responsible for keeping us safe, which includes knowing where we are at all times and making sure we are where we need to be. This is especially important in light of the growing concern of school safety with the rise of school shootings. 

Put yourself in their perspective. If your parent came to pick you up unexpectedly and the school was unable to locate you because you were loitering in the halls, the school would face a lot of criticism from that parent. They could even face a lawsuit or someone getting fired if the student was found injured or caught up in an accident. Even worse, if they couldn’t find a student during a fire because they walked off campus, a firefighter might risk their life going back in to search for them. Why risk all of that when the situation could easily be avoided by keeping students in class? That’s their job in the first place. 

It’s not as if this is unwarranted either. In a recent letter sent home to students, the school noted how students would be facing disciplinary -and possibly legal action- if they were found outside of school during school hours. It was noted that the increased surveillance was due to a rising trend in truancy and skipping class. The attendance policy used to be much more relaxed, but as you can see, it’s stricter in response to students taking advantage of the system. So we really only have ourselves to blame.

Ultimately, the school is just trying to do its job. So don’t blame the system. Or even better, just be on time.

* Note: A shorter version of this piece was published in the February print edition of the Raider Review.