In an attempt to keep students out of the halls, the administration decided to bring back hallway sweeps, during the week of November 14th-17th. During the sweeps, classroom doors were closed and the administrators, alongside security guards, monitored the halls for students out of class without a hall pass.
The main goal for administrators in conducting the hallway sweeps was to talk to students not in class and understand why. They are trying to understand if students are walking the halls for personal reasons, teacher problems, overall problems with the class, or something else.
“The reality is we have students who are on campus but they are missing class, each student has his or her own reason for why they are missing class, and I think we need to spend time trying to find what those reasons are. As a stopgap measure a hallway sweep at least creates this system of getting them to class but it doesn’t really solve the root cause of the problem,” assistant principal Mr. Panjabi explained.
The consequences for being caught in the hallway during the sweeps is a 3 strikes policy; the first 2 strikes students get sent to class with a warning and their name is written down, but on the last strike, they are taken to their counselor to go over grades, and attendance, as well as the students parents are then called.
While most people are surprised to hear about the hall sweeps being done, they have actually been around for about 3 years. Administrators hope for positive progress as another hallway sweep is planned for this semester, and from there the administration will evaluate whether the hallway sweeps work or not and see if they want to continue them.
Students seem to have mixed thoughts about the hallway sweeps. Some were very critical of the sweeps, as senior Justin N. said, “I think it’s kinda dumb to let people know that there’s going to be a hallway sweep. It should be more sudden and not announced. It’s gonna be efficient and I think the school is not doing too much because there’s a lot of people in the hallways.”
Freshman Sai O. added, “I feel like the hallway sweeps are a little unnecessary and very rushed, maybe we need more time to get to class. I feel like people are still going to be walking the halls or even just leave the school. They are doing too much because you don’t wanna be in the classroom for a reason.”
Others however, think they are a good idea and will help the hall walking issues. Junior Brianna F. said, “I think it’s very smart and intelligent because that means all kids will be in class being studious and get all their credits so they can graduate.Its working a little bit there’s not many kids in the bathrooms or the halls. I don’t think the school is doing too much. The students kind of asked for it.”
