Are Hallpasses Necessary?

Katya Olshansky | eolshansky23@dtechhs.org

Cynthia Shi | cshi23@dtechhs.org

Are controlled bathroom visits really helping? There have been multiple new policies put in place around d.tech recently, one of which is the bathroom passes. There is a new addition to the passes, where students need to leave their phones when going to the restrooms. They are fairly controversial around the d.tech community, and there are mixed reviews about whether students and teachers think they are needed or not. 

Junior, Lea Sounthong has conflicting feelings about the passes. She thinks that “they are a good way for teachers to track how many students leave the classroom at a time,” but also states that they are not as effective as the staff intended them to be. She feels that “the system was fine before, and leaving the phones is a bit unnecessary,” and she did not see any issues with bathrooms before the passes. She mentions that she has never been checked in the hallways to see if she has a pass or not, but “the staff make out to be like there are staff members constantly checking students for them.”

Junior, Luis Mendez-Stacker has very strong thoughts about the hall passes. He starts off by saying, “People come to this school to not experience a regular public school system, and the staff don’t have trust in their students anymore.” He later says that it is unfair for people that actually need to use the bathroom, and misses when there were not “all of these new restrictions,” he does not see a reason for the passes and finds them to be wasteful and unnecessary. 

Overall, there is some controversy around the passes, but for the most part, the d.tech community does not see the hallpasses as necessary. Although they know that the passes have some benefits, they think that they are not being handled properly.