Coming back to school after the pandemic was difficult; in September of 2021, some students stepped into the building for the first time since March of 2020. It became clear that the past hallway rules were not enforced, the bathrooms were vandalized, and students took advantage of their ability to roam the halls with no repercussions. Staff and administrators noticed students spending more time in the bathrooms with friends, instead of going to class. As students wrapped up the first semester of the 2021-2022 school year, Principal Pete Donaghy held assemblies to explain school policies and hallway rules.

Principal Donaghy began the assembly with his usual warm greeting, and then said he wanted to implement a reset as the new semester began. He expressed his concerns about the bathrooms, saying it is uncomfortable to have multiple people clustered in bathrooms, and he asked students to respect the school’s property. Donaghy made it a goal to improve the bathrooms by the end of this year, starting by preventing students from using the bathrooms for social gatherings.

Following this, hallways and homeroom rules were discussed. During any and all classes, students are required to have a pass when in the hallway, and each floor has a different colored pass – 1st floor is red, 2nd floor is yellow, 3rd floor is green, and library passes are purple. All other passes are to be written by teachers or administrators. Students found wandering during class time without a pass or the correct pass will face repercussions. Only one student is allowed out of the classroom at a time, especially during homeroom. A student should take orders for items from the school store to prevent long lines and hallway congestion. If students want to see a teacher or counselor during homeroom, they must have the teacher pre-approve their visit on a shared Google spreadsheet. Students should check in with their homeroom teacher, and their teacher will check the spreadsheet before they are allowed to leave.

Principal Donaghy agreed to be interviewed by The Fordian to answer some questions about these new rules.

Fordian: Implementing these new rules was done for the safety of students while on school grounds during school hours. Yet these rules are just now being enforced, halfway through the year. How were students safe during the first semester?

Donaghy: “We did implement these rules for safety but more so because we had too many students leaking out of classrooms. We want students to have more time in the classroom. As a school, our focus is education – that’s why students roaming around needs to come to an end. It’s not just the hallways; it’s the bathrooms as well. We are seeing too many students in the bathroom who are not using the bathroom.”

Fordian: How well do you think students will respond or follow these rules?

Donaghy: “I am very confident.  95% of students follow all our rules, all the time. So we are pretty confident it is going to work and make it easier for that 95% to go to the bathroom, move around the school, or be in places not heavily supervised like the locker rooms.”

Fordian: Aside from the administration standing in the exits/entrances at lunch, what other reinforcements have you put in place to ensure students are following the rules?

Donaghy: “Nothing too specific. All the administrators and monitors have walkie-talkies so we are communicating as much as possible. The teachers know to call the office if a student is not where they should be, and we have staff walking around the halls, monitoring bathrooms to make sure everyone is where they should be. If there are any concerns that rise to a level of  an emergency, I and others can be reached easily and we can attend to these situations.”