We all know and are familiar with the hallway dwellers. They’re the students who are supposedly too cool for school and prefer to spend their time wandering the halls or lounging in the bathrooms. Teachers and school staff consider this skipping class, but until now, not much has been done about these students.
Our school policy is that if you are out of class for over 10 minutes, you are considered skipping, but what about those who just don’t attend class? Those students then resort to places like the hallways, and you can easily spot them talking with a group of friends or scrolling on their phones.
The idea of doing hallway sweeps was introduced last year, where if you did not have a pass and were in the hallways you would be put into in-school suspension (ISS). This method seemed to work significantly for a few weeks, but as this school year came around it was not as effective.
Not only are the hallways an issue, the restrooms have become a major problem. Without fail, when you walk into a restroom, there will be anywhere from five to fifteen students lounging there. Students are known to be huddling in one stall, sitting on the floor, and even sitting in the sinks. These students are usually skipping class, and they may be vaping. Vaping and tobacco use are seen as between a three and four-level offense according to Barlow’s Safety and Discipline handbook. With students constantly vaping in the bathrooms without much consequence besides suspension and substance abuse counseling given by the school, this could be seen as the school condoning this behavior. Not only is this wrong to allow students to do this to themselves, but it is also against the law. According to the National Center On Safe Supportive Learning Environments, “A facility shall not permit a person under 21 years of age to possess tobacco products or inhalant delivery systems while the person is present on facility grounds or in facility buildings or attending facility-sponsored activities”. This means that by law, schools can’t allow students to use substances or have them in their possession. While some efforts are being made to help stop Barlow’s issue of hallway dwellers and bathroom loungers, staff continue to work on these problems.
Sam Barlow’s principal, Mr. Bhear, has been working with the school staff extensively to stop the students’ skipping class issue. Bhear told us, “Students will be held accountable for skipping classes. Possible consequences include detentions, school service, loss of off-campus privileges, loss of parking privileges*, in-school suspension, and/or out-of-school suspension.” These consequences come from the Student Code and Conduct Book. When asked about the vaping problems in our school, Bhear mentioned the training teachers receive on this topic. Barlow staff are trained on what vape devices look like and smell like. Bhear explained, “As for dealing with vaping, like any tobacco/nicotine infraction, we advise staff to report it immediately to student management/administration.”
Barlow’s Safety and Discipline book, found on the school website, lists the disciplinary action meant to be taken. For level one and two offenses, some actions listed to stop the issue include parent contact, written reflection, an apology letter, and a daily progress report. Actions to solve a level three offense include the same things and a few additional ideas, such as in-school suspension or out-of-school suspension. For a level four or five offense (the highest possible) law enforcement can be involved or you could be expelled.
Recently, a message went out to parents and students about the current efforts being put into solving specifically the bathroom issues. This email includes the fact that the school is working extra hard to keep the restrooms open and available. In the email, it was also included that if you’re having trouble finding an open restroom come to student management for assistance. The doubling down the school staff is doing on this problem does seem to be working! According to many students, they are usually able to find and use a nearly empty restroom. As the school year goes on and we head into the 25-26 school year, we hope to see more solutions and more actions being effectively placed just like this semester.
