Homeless in the Hallways

The bell rings, class is in session, but it seems as though some T.C. Williams students have lost their way in the halls. Students have been crowding the hallways more and more as the school year goes on. “Can I go to the bathroom?” has turned into “Can I wander the halls?” T.C. students have noticed the large amount of hall monitors roaming the school, which is the administrations response to the increased number of students in the halls.

After interviewing students in the halls on why they are never in class most said “I just don’t feel like it,” This is an example of the lack of interest that some students have in school. Other reasons were that they were forced to take certain classes that they didn’t choose themselves, and that makes them not want to be in class but instead wonder the halls until class is over. One girl said, “My teacher told me to go get a tip pass but I did not want to get detention so I would rather just not come back to class.”

TC administration has issued the TIP table as an attempt to control the tardiness and roaming in the hallways. Teachers at the TIP table seem to agree that the school needs more discipline when it comes to roaming the halls they say. Carol Daly said, “We think the solution would be having students going to Saturday school for all the skipped class time.” Theogony took a count of how many students were in the hallway on February 19th during 7th period. There were a total of 15 people roaming the second floor alone. “The school definitely needs stiffer disciplinary action,” says Samantha Carol, an administrator at the TIP table.

The lack of discipline that some students show could be a reflection on the many rules that the school has, but the lack of enforcement. The “TIP,” rule is not an exception to those many other rules that have been made to try to keep the students from skipping classes or school. Enforcement of the rules might be the only way that the administration could make the students go to class and create the discipline some students need to attend to class even if they do not “feel like it.”