As Chudacoff continues his first term as principal, he has recently turned his attention to the issue of illegal hallway crossings during class. As he announced on the intercom during flex last month, several teachers have been deployed into the hallways in several key areas, including at the top of the 21 door stairs, outside the commons, and in the foyer. These troops are under strict orders to search the hallway passes of any students who wander by, and take action if students are unable to provide them. In the past 7 days, over 100 students have been detained back to their classrooms after failing to present legitimate hallway passes. But Chudacoff still feels this is not enough.
In recent months, many teachers have begun using stamps to authenticate their hallway passes. Now, Chudacoff wants this practice to end. In a recent post on Terror Social, he declared that any passes authenticated by stamp are from now on “VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT”, due to them not being physically signed by teachers. He is concerned about how these stamps enable students to receive passes without the thorough background checks normally required when teachers sign a pass.
Opponents of the new policy have noted how forcing teachers to sign a pass every time a student wants to leave the room can disrupt class, and significantly shorten the amount of time a teacher has to teach in any given class period. One vaper I found in the third floor men’s bathroom last Tuesday, who has chosen to remain anonymous, told me that “The passes aren’t the real problem here. I can easily forge or reuse a pass. Really, if The Chud wants to stop me from hitting the happy sticks, he needs to implement better searches at the front door crossing.”
The legality of this policy has also been called into question by Appleton West’s top lawyers, including 3 from the recently state-placing Mock Trial team. In a joint statement put out by the team, they decry the use of pricipal-ial orders to push this policy through, claiming that the student handbook outlines that policies of this nature need to be passed by the school board before they can be implemented. The team has launched a lawsuit, but because Mock Trial only takes one case a year, the hearing is unlikely to start until next February.