Can a slip of paper really save lives? According to security guard Francesca Bruzzino, these slips of paper known as ‘hallway passes’ can help with keeping the school safe, which is why it is being more strongly enforced this year.

“We’re trying to make sure that everyone in the building is supposed to be in the building,” Bruzzino said.

These hallway passes not only distinguish students in the halls, but they also make sure students are where they are supposed to be.

“It’s not that we’re trying to come across too strict, but we’re really just trying to help pave that pass to what’s after high school,” dean of students Joshua West said.

West believes that by implementing a stronger hallway pass rule, where students in the halls are required to carry a pass during class hours, attendance will go up and so will grades.

Study halls have created a different pass system with a limited number of laminated passes per class where students are able to go wherever. This, in the long term, could create problems.

“People could take the pass and go wherever they want basically. They don’t have to go where they’re supposed to go,” junior Blake Rus said.

To West, writing individual passes each time is better than taking the risk with laminated passes or even no pass at all.

“It’s frustrating and it’s time consuming but the consequence that a student might get on the other end, to me, is worth the time it takes to write the pass,” West said.