For the second semester of this school year, administration has implemented a new hallway management system to keep students from wandering in the hallways during class.
During the first semester, a big issue for the security guards was that students filled out an securely pass and went to a location that they shouldn’t be at. The security guards couldn’t tell that a student was in the wrong place, as there was nothing on the student that said where they should be. To fix this, science teacher Aaron Willems proposed an idea. Now, there are physical passes that are color-coded to show which location they should be. Students are required to take these, along with filling out an e-hall pass, and wear them around their necks. This makes it easily identifiable for any administrators who are walking by to see where a student is supposed to be.
With a big change like this, it is common to be anxious about whether or not it is going to work, but there is already some history behind this system at West.
“This idea was implemented during summer school at Millard West last summer,” Willems said. “When it was used in Summer School, it went very well and many teachers and faculty from West who did Summer School felt that it was very helpful and told Dr. Tiemann about it when the school year started. He tasked me with forming a committee and implementing the system school-wide. We did a pilot in Quarter 2, with a handful of volunteer teachers, got their feedback, and improved the system, then made it available for the entire school at the beginning of this term.”
The passes are beneficial to all in the building, as some students think that this change could be huge in terms of keeping their hallways in order during class.
“I think that the new system makes it easier to tell who is coming from a class and where they are going,” junior Caden Reynolds said. “I think it will help to keep the halls in order.”
The change is also intended to help students be in attendance to classes, as to The administration doesn’t just see this as a new system, they see this as an opportunity to make sure that the hallways are regularly patrolled which will help keep students from wandering off.
“The main goal is to ensure that students leaving the classroom are only going where they asked the teacher to go,” assistant principal Casey Lundgren said. “This new system allows the individuals that supervise the halls during class, an easy way to determine if a student is in the correct part of the building.”
Despite the system seeming flawless, there will always be minor flaws that will be fixed over time. Even though it may take a while to work through all the trials and tribulations of implementing something like this, everyone should agree that it will be better in the long run.