Sonya Sud

Hall passes at Lafayette were implemented last school year in response to students roaming the halls after asking to go to the bathroom. However, with the school still having issues with students roaming, the school will be implementing a new “blackout time” bathroom system.

Color-coded bathroom passes began at the start of last year, but this school year, a few changes have been made to manage the system. The biggest of those tweaks will be a new system of “blackout times”, beginning Aug. 24.

Blackout times will ensure students are not in the halls from 8:28-8:45 a.m. and 3-3:17 p.m.

“That’s when we saw the most traffic – at the end of the day and after the bell [to start school],” Associate Principal Michael Franklin said. “The roaming around campus has become quite an issue, and so that’s what we’re addressing.”

Franklin believes students don’t need to be in the halls at those times, as they can use the restroom before and after school.

Last year, each classroom had two passes with teacher names and room numbers, coordinated with a specific bathroom for that area. As another way to reduce roaming in halls, classrooms have been cut down to one pass each.

“We found that teachers having the most success with tracking kids were the ones who just used one lanyard,” Franklin said.

Teachers were recommended to have their students sign out using a dry-erase marker and a whiteboard before leaving class.

“We suggested [a] marker and whiteboard, but they don’t have to use that if they have another system in place. They’re welcome to use whatever they’d like,” Franklin said.

In addition to the change with bathroom passes, vending machines will not be accessible during school hours, also due to students roaming campus.

“If a student wants food, they can get food from the vending machine at the start of the day,” Franklin said.

Vending machines will shut off at 8:30 a.m. and turn back on at 3:15 p.m.

“We had a bunch of teachers get together during the summer with all eight of the administrators to share their opinions. The small changes we made this year are just because we try to get everything right,” Franklin said.

Along with the changes for the beginning of the school year, teachers will begin enforcing tardies starting Aug. 24.