Because so many students complained about the uncleanliness of the flip-flops that were used as hall passes last year, the school is kicking them away in favor of laminated sheets of paper this year, assistant principal Brian Safine said.

Despite the change, Safine said the hall passes, which contain the name of the teacher, room number and department, will function the same as last year. Students are required to bring it whenever they leave the classroom, including when they go to the bathroom. 

Students from last year might remember how the flip-flops seemed to grow feet and could never be found in the right classroom. This year’s passes, by contrast, have mostly stayed put so far.

Both teachers and students also noticed that the passes were much larger than before. 

Physics and business teacher Kirk Davis describes the new hall passes as “awfully big,” but recognized the need to have a way to “identify that kids have been let out of class.”

Senior Jewoo Im thinks the bigger hall passes are “a bit less convenient.” However, he did not mind the change, as the new passes “basically serve the same purpose.” 

Safine stressed that the greater size was of importance to administrators patrolling the hallways. 

“[The bigger size is] just a more regularly identifiable way for us to see [that] it’s one of our students and they’re heading to the restroom, rather than someone coming from off campus who maybe isn’t supposed to be here,” Safine said.