Pushing, Shoving, cursing, tripping…these are all the words that describe West Middle School’s hallways this 2018-2019 school year. This behavior is not right and it needs to be fixed.

One big problem that occurs in these hallways is slow walkers. Slow walkers cause many problems such as students being late to class. It can be very irritating when you have to get to class and people are fanned out in the hallways. Many students also cross the hallways in zigzag formation which can cause kids to get bumped into or pushed. Getting pushed can lead to falling and dropping their belongings which can make them be late to class. Another issue is students completely stopping in the hallway, this can become a problem because students will have to get around them and that can be very difficult sometimes.

Our interviewees had similar opinions, Grace Cheetham, seventh-grader, explained, “Lots of people are shoving in the hallway and swearing,” Cameron Laidlaw, eighth-grader, shared, ”A really big problem is when people stand by lockers and they clump up so kids can’t get through.”

Many students contribute to these issues and we need to resolve them fast. Mrs. Horvath thinks that having more adults in the hall would be helpful. She reminds us that the point of passing time is to get to your next class, not to hang out with people. Grace Cheetam, seventh-grader, emphasized that “having people monitor the hallway is needed because these problems are getting out of control.” Students notice only some teachers are in the hallway. For example, Mr. Smiley is always standing at the corner by the office. It would be helpful if teachers walked around the hallway to watch student behavior. 

Our hallways are clearly not perfect and many different problems occur throughout a school day, but we can fix these problems if we all think of others before ourselves.  West students, let’s work together to make the hallway issues the least of our concern this 2018-2019 school year.