How many of your teachers require you to have a pass to do even the simplest errand? How many of your teachers let you run wild in the halls? Normal Community is currently split regarding student hallway regulations. The rule is that you always need to have a pass when you are in the hallway during a class hour. This rule is scarcely enforced, yet it is followed by a good number of staff members.  Why do we have this rule when no one enforces it? If no one enforces the hall passes, why do some teachers require you to have a pass every single time you leave the classroom?

The hall pass rule either needs to be enforced or teachers should stop giving passes all together. Next time you’re in the hallway during a class, try to pick out the students going to run an errand for a teacher and the ones cutting class. You can’t do it. However, there might not be anyone skipping, or all of the students you see could be.

This is a problem that is presented every hour of every day at Normal Community. You can walk through any hallway at Normal Community and see students wandering aimlessly without a pass. For example, during lunch a student can roam through any part of the school if he or she desires. It’s very hard to determine if a student is in a lunch hour, which makes enforcing punishment even harder.

“If I see a group of students, I do stop them, but if I just see someone walking in the hall I don’t stop them,” said German teacher Ms. Schnabel.

Normal Community does not need to change the hallway policy; they need to start enforcing it. A school position that has become almost extinct is the hall monitor. Monitors are something Normal Community could revive and use effectively.  One hall monitor per hall patrolling and asking for passes. I have never seen a student get stopped for not having a pass, although I’ve been told I can’t use the restroom without one. Stopping kids without a pass would help decrease the amount of students wasting time in the hall and get them back to the classroom.