At the end of each quarter students are not allowed to use any kind of hall pass. Even using the bathroom is banned, because the administration doesn’t want any disturbances in the hallway while student and teachers are trying to finish the quarter. While this helps students and their teachers effectively use all their class time, it poses problems for other students who need to visit their counselor’s office or the media center and aren’t allowed. “You need it.” Said Ayantu Berga, a sophomore. She visits the media center regularly for study and work time during classes that she doesn’t need to prioritize or isn’t busy in.

Why can’t things be done in the five minutes of passing time, you ask? The majority of this time is consumed by the commute between classes, dependent upon the distance that students have to travel. In other words, using the bathroom is a speedy quick stop that usually results in speed walking or even running to class. Class time passes for bathroom use are obviously necessary are very helpful, for the well being of students and to avoid disruptions as people arrive late.

Obviously they can’t deprive students of using the bathroom so they send around the security staff to visit classrooms and escort groups of boys and girls separately to the bathrooms. Rallying up a herd of students is much more disruptive than allowing a single student to go one at a time, like usual. It’s not as if teachers let multiple students use passes at the same time, and it’s pretty hard to make a ruckus in the halls by yourself.

Using the bathroom shouldn’t be a rushed or pushed aside as less important than keeping things quiet. Lily Eusebio, 10th grader, mentioned that it makes everything so much more stressful and hard to concentrate.

For those of us who use our passes responsibly it’s unfair,especially at the end of the quarter when we need them the most. Often, using the bathroom is a trivial concern compared to all the work left for students at the end of quarter. Many teachers have final tests and projects due in the last few days of the quarter, leaving students scrambling to finish things up. Well the school seeks to provide a quiet learning environment by eliminating passes, keeping thirty or so stressed out kids in a classroom usually achieves anything but. Furthermore, without access to the media center, some students don’t have the resources they need to do their work.

If the school has other reasons for not allowing students to use passes, they should be made clear to generate respect for the policy. Otherwise, it is hard to see why students who respect the pass system should be inconvenienced, especially at the end of quarter when stress is high and pass privileges can be most important.