Increased hall sweeps have improved attendance and reduced tardiness

Administrators report that the words Jordan students hate to hear – “This, is, a, hall sweep!” – will continue to be a daily occurrence for the rest of the year. Principal Taylor has stated that although there is no numerical data to prove that these daily hall sweeps have been effective, she has seen improvement in students arriving to their class before the bell. “I wish there wasn’t a need for hallsweeps and students understood the value of getting to class on time,” she shared.

Teachers and administrators had noticed increased student traffic in the halls at the beginning of class periods, leading to hall sweeps as administrators seek solutions to reduce classroom interruptions and protect instructional time. Ms. Smith Traore noticed that having more hall sweeps has encouraged her students to get to class on time, which is helpful “because wandering the halls has been a big issue for [her] kids.”

Students are caught in hall sweeps for a large variety of reasons. Some report difficulty reaching classes within the six-minute timeframe, and others have a desire to skip class. Assistant Principal Dr. Cardoza stated that “the average student is caught [in a hall sweep] about 3-5 times.” According to a teacher, roughly 50 students were caught in each hall sweep in December. The goal of the daily hall sweeps is to cut these numbers down.

“Hall Sweep in Lecture Hall,” Ella Bonchick

“I think we should have a hall sweep every single period,” Mr. Finger informed Falcon Post. Other teachers feel that having many hall sweeps at the very beginning of class is unnecessary. Ms. Brown said, “When they have a hall sweep within the first five minutes, that’s excessive, [but] when it happens 30 minutes after class starts, it’s valid because there’s a lot of skipping that happens.”

Ms. Taylor agrees that eliminating skipping completely is not a realistic goal due to how easy it is to leave Jordan’s campus, and that there are a wide variety of reasons why someone might find skipping appealing. Hall sweeps are not a fool proof way to prevent this. Additionally, some students have found work-arounds to dodge being hall swept, including hiding by the art classrooms in the basement due to the lack of cameras in that alcove to avoid being caught.

Olivia Ko, a junior, pointed out that she believes hall sweeps can be ineffective because when students are caught, they sit on their phones in the auditorium instead of being present for instructional time. “It’s given me more anxiety about getting to class on time than I already have,” she also stated.

An anonymous Jordan student who was caught in a hall sweep this year also questioned the logic behind hall sweeps, sharing that it felt "unnecessary" since they had a pass. “Not everyone getting caught in a hall sweep are the main targets that they’re reaching for,” they shared. The student expressed that although they understand the reasoning behind hall sweeps, for some students it can cause them to miss out on instructional time, not allowing them to optimize their opportunities.