Red passes are a new thing this year. Obviously. Their purpose is to make sure that students can’t leave their classes without the teacher’s approval. Again, obvious. But the system doesn’t work nearly as well as it seems like it should.
A pass system works in a middle or elementary school. It’s probably where Heritage got the idea to implement the red passes. But it works because every student is always in a class when the bell rings. When schedules are instead intentionally designed to allow for numerous off-hours, the system struggles.
During an off-hour, you can do whatever you want, be it homework, talking to friends, or even composing a 40 page essay about why dogs should wear those little sweaters. It doesn’t matter. And if you do get up during an off-hour, there aren’t any passes that can verify that you have permission to do so.
Following this logic, a student who wanted to ditch class could very easily lie about their schedule, miraculously finding that they have an off-hour during a time when they would normally be in class, and verifying the lie would be more trouble than it’s worth for the teacher that stopped them.
And teachers don’t stop the volume of students that they’d need to in order to help the system stay afloat. Think about it. When was the last time you were asked by a teacher for proof that you could be in the halls? It’s probably been a long while, if it has ever happened. And that’s mostly because teachers have so much other, more important work to be doing than wandering around, trying to catch the few students daring enough to skip class.
Red passes are a good idea, but the reality is a system that is difficult to maintain, and doesn’t work all that well when it is.