Yes, all three of my children at Baldwin HS have stated to me that the hallpasses are "disgusting'" and have also reported to me that they hear about kids who have urinated on them. and therefore refuse to use them. It has gotten to the point that "they hold it all day"- which isnt exactly a healthy practice either... It is a concern and something needs to be done.

Korchnak is terrible, research doesn't convince him! Did he do any of his own research? (most likely not). June 30th can't come fast enough! Why doesn't the article say how Dr. Lutz feels about the passes? Why doesn't the board just pass a policy saying that they are using personal agendas or one time use hall passes?

While I understand the need to keep track of students while on school property I believe the current system to be completely unhygienic and the cost of disposable passes to be prohibitive. I wonder why each student can't be issued a school ID card at the beginning of the school year, which they could submit to a teacher when requesting to be excused from class. At the end of class each teacher could determine if everyone is accounted for and if they are not they then could be reviewed for possible discipline. It would require additional oversight for teachers & administrators, but would be more cost efficient and cleanly.

I've known eddie and tori for a long time, so i can say their research is done with our best interest in mind. from a student perspective i can say these truly are disgusting. as much as dr korchnak does for us he doesn't realize what its like at our level, he's too busy like any administrator making policies without thinking of the consequences. personally i refuse to go to the bathroom using these, i just leave class without one and take the risk of being caught by security. were not even allowed to go to a locker to get books or other work, because that would be outside of our "zones". BHS is turning into a prison, luckily i get out of there forever in 2 months. parents, do something now or your kids are in for a rough 2012-13 school year

As an alumni of good ol' BHS I fully understand the risks of personal agendas and how students can abuse this small power and sneak out of class with them. Unfortunately, though, I don't believe making students use a hall pass that is completely and totally unhygienic for them is a better way to keep students from skipping classes, and it is surely not a safer practice. There is a reason Baldwin has so many on-staff security guards and supposed cameras installed worth tens of thousands of dollars- that is for the safety and well-being of students. So instead of making students carry potentially harmful passes with them to the bathroom, why not take a look at the work the security guards are doing? Since my days at the high school I know there were enough of them, but are they asking the right questions? I know for a fact if I had my agenda no questions were asked. They smiled and let me on my way. And why, if they find a student in the hallway, don't they escort them to where they are supposed to be going and make sure that teacher is aware of their whereabouts within the school? They have walkie-talkies and phones in classrooms for a reason. Instead of forcing this harmful practice on the students, why not question the responsible adults, such as security and teachers, and see why they believe the pass system is failing?

I am an admitted germ-a-phobe, as well as the mother of a child with kidney disease, and I find this absolutely revolting. Surely administrators can come up with a better plan to implement than this. I am a BHS graduate and when I attended each student was given an ID card. Do students have these now? Can there not be some sort of barcode or number each student is assigned that gets documented in the computer system showing date/time of each students classroom departures? Something documented seems much more beneficial as far as tracking habitual classroom breaks as well.

Everyone one of you are ignorant. Read the students own research! The organisms found are all naturally occuring in the environment. That means for you that are not able to think for yourselves, that they are everywhere in the environment. On your skin, door knobs, up your noses everywhere. Get informed before you make statements that you have no idea about. Go to www.cdc.gov and learn something. It may even help you to sound educated for once in your lives!

Ken, it's common knowledge that restrooms have a lot of bacteria. This is caused by the moist and warm conditions of most restrooms. Several studies highlight the types of harmful bacteria growing in public restrooms: (tinyurl.com/bnfqrg4) (tinyurl.com/d4wfo6s), including the two harmful strains identified in Victoria's experiment.

Regardless of any study, if you seriously expect for anyone to believe that a hallpass dropped into a toilet full of urine to be sanitary, then you're the ignorant one here.

ML, if the hand sanitizer stations were to be refilled as often as they refill the cafe dispensers, then I don't think that would work too well.

Bsmith, please enlighten me as to which one of the bacterial found on the passes are harmful to humans that aren't found in a normal environments such as the ones I mentioned about. Culture your stove top and I guarantee your eating the same "disgusting" bacteria the us students are touching on the hall passes.

Serratia is capable of causing complex, resistant infections, whether it's on my stove top or not (tinyurl.com/bw8593m). No matter what comparisons you want to make, there's no way a "normal environment" will contain as many bacteria as a hall pass that has been dropped in toilets and is placed on the floor in bathrooms daily. That's disgusting anyway you want to look at it. You might as well say we don't need to wash our hands after using the bathroom, since all the bacteria is found in "normal environments."

Well add Ken to the list with Korchnak as the merry idiots. What you choose to call others, so too must you be dear Ken. I suppose you read all the research and are very much informed? That's what I thought! The issue is not the everyday germs, the issue is the prison like conditions the students are being subjected to each day without good reason. As someone who attended BHS, we told the guards, teachers and principals what we were doing and when we were doing it, especially the spineless guards who have a sweet contract with the district to basically police nothing!

Prison like conditions? You dont even attend Baldwin Highschool, how would you know anything about it? If you ask me I wouldnt change one thing about the school. People dont realize how good we have it there. Go to a city-school or somewhere that isnt as up to date and you'll see what prison like conditions are. We built a very nice and up-to-date school here to make it a better place for kids like me and the other students in our school, and you bash it because we dont have our own hall passes? SUCK IT UP, and tell your whiney kids that come home and complain about it to do the same!

I agree that there is a ton of bacteria that grows in a bathroom. Being that I am not familiar with the high school I can only guess that they are probably cleaned daily. There is more than likely less bacteria growing in the HS bathrooms than there is in your own home bathroom. Bacterias that are found in the environment (most are) are usually harmful to those that have a compromised immune system. Are the same students that are using the hall passes complaining about the student who coughs all over they desk, spits on the floor, wipes snot on the desk etc,, These are all reasons to be concerned. While the idea of using a hall pass that others may have urinated on, dropped in a toilet, or may not have washed their hands and carried it back is gross and unsanitary, it is highly unlikely that any of the students will be infected with anything that is on them. Put a petri dish out in plain old air, let it sit for 20 minutes, grow it for 24 hrs and let me know what is on it, you will be surprised to see what you breathe in everyday!

http://www.webmd.com/balance/features/what-can-you-catch-in-restrooms

Here is a good article to read.

What about the students being required to wear it around their neck. If you have to put it back around your neck after you pee on it... I bet you will not pee on it or set it on the floor ect.

Prison like conditions is what you want in a school to an extent. You don't want students to wonder around the halls like it's a mall. That is student safety at it's best. If all students are in a class room during class anybody out is suspicious and makes for tighter security. Keeps things like Chardon OH from happening. I believe they should add a a few minuets to passing periods and not give bathroom breaks. You can't leave a O.R., assembly line, bank tellers window, or fire truck with a bathroom pass.

Some teachers (about 10%) have attached their hall passes to lanyards. Very few kids actually wear the lanyards. No one is suggesting removing zones. There always have been zones, even before these disgusting passes. Students just want a cleaner alternative. I don't know how anyone could realistically think that carrying hall passes that are often dropped in a toilet, contact urine, etc is okay. It should be common sense.

Make wearing the pass mandatory. Not wearing it is equal to not having one.

Why aren't the same concerns being asked at the elementary and middle school levels?

We've closed the poll just shy of 100 votes. The winner: Disposable Passes (50 votes).

Baldwin High School Will Get Disposable Hall Passes: http://patch.com/A-sxmY