With the start of a new school year, students welcome important new faces along with impactful changes, one of which is the new hall pass system. 

Principal Douglas Nelson’s new system forces students to stay near their classroom, indicated by the color of their passes, and each classroom is only allotted two passes. If the passes are lost, they are not replaced and students cannot leave the room. This new pass system also includes the 10-10 rule where students may not leave during the first or last 10 minutes of class. Nelson implemented the new policy to decrease the number of students wandering the halls. 

During advisory, students need to show their pass to their teachers so they can leave the class. In the hallways, administration is enforcing the pass policy by checking each pass and confirming that it is valid. Compared to last year, where students only needed a blue slip of paper and could just go wherever they wanted during advisory, this policy is much more strict and complex. However despite the complexity, the new changes are being well received by staff. “Students seem to be more purposeful with where they need to be, and I think it’s better,” Administrator Nicole Walker said.

The school is open to feedback based on how the past weeks have gone with the  different passes, “I would make it so I could go wherever during advisory. Right now I can’t go see all the teachers that I want to because I can only go to one class per day. It’s annoying because last year’s advisory was much more relaxed and I could get the help that I needed,” sophomore Emre Wright said.

This new hall pass system has not been well received among the upperclassmen but the freshman class seems to be content with it. “This is what [freshmen] walked into, so they’ve adapted, but I think if you’ve always had something and it changes, you’re going to think about how last year we didn’t do this, and now we have a different system,” Walker said. 

Although this newly implemented system is working, there are mixed reviews around the school. Last year’s system was too relaxed and this system is too strict. Is there a compromise to be found? Amongst the grade levels and all the students at Wootton, the seniors are having the hardest time adapting to the new system, already showing signs of dismay. “I liked last year’s system because I could just go out wherever and I didn’t need a certain pass to be in a certain area of the building but now it’s just a hassle to go get some water,” senior Zach Haledjian said. 

The 10-10 rule isn’t popular among the student body, with an Instagram account being made to petition against it and students speaking out against this new rule. “Last year’s system was much better because I could go to the bathroom at the end of class and wasn’t missing the lecture in the middle. With this 10 minute rule, my teachers won’t let me go to the bathroom even when I ask them during the time I’m allowed to go,” sophomore Marissa Cook said.