When the second semester began on Feb. 2, school administrators introduced the Extended Passing Pass for students struggling to get to their classes on time. The pass was revealed through the school website and social media, as well as through morning announcements. The pass allows for students to get up to two extra minutes of passing time between classes.

Previously, teachers would occasionally let students leave class early, or allow them to have around a minute or two of grace before marking tardies. For students that are interested in applying for a pass, there is a form available on each grade level’s ‘Class of’ Google Classroom.

“So the application is a Google form that is posted in all of the Class Google Classrooms like the Class of 2028, it’s posted in there,” Principal Alex Chertok said. “So you go into that form, you fill out the information, there’s [around] four questions, and then that form goes to Mr. Threadgold, who oversees the passes…He’ll look at the schedule and determine if there is a big enough gap between two classes where we think: ‘yeah, this person probably does need some extra time to get to class.’ And depending on what he sees there, he’s the one who approves it, and then would call you down and issue you the pass.”

According to Career and Technological Education teacher Samuel Cook and art teacher Morgan Young, roughly 8 to 10 students on average come in late for every CTE class, which is about 30% of students in a given class. The pass, which is a little white card on a necklace much like a bathroom pass, is easy to spot and will help teachers keep track of who has an excused tardy.

“I would say it’s cut down somewhat on the tardies,” Cook said. “But again, I still have students that just can’t get here on time. They either choose not to, or they just physically can’t. And so again, they still have yet to get a pass, so I just keep marking them tardy…I don’t know what the consequences are of anything, so part of me wonders if there is a consequence yet for this.”

Some students either don’t know about the pass or don’t know how to get it. However, results have been relatively positive for students with the pass, along with reception from certain teachers.

“I think it’s really helpful,” freshman Penelope Clark said. “I like it.”