Does any school in the US actually have hall monitors?

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Embarrassed-Boss-40@reddit

I graduated past 2010s (don’t want to give personal info here) and my high school had a hall monitor. She had a desk right after all the admin rooms and right before all the class hallways. If you were ever tardy, you’d have to leave your classroom (if you made it that far) and see her to get a slip. She didn’t walk around the hallways though because we had cameras everywhere and she looked at them on her screens.

She was also in charge of enforcing dress code so while students were running to their next class, she’d stop them and give a front office pass where either you’d get orange sweats (no our colors weren’t orange, yes the rumor was to resemble prison) OR if you’ve been dress coded too many times (maybe like 3+ a year) you’d be sent home with detention the next day.

She also looked sooooo much like that teacher or principal or whatever from ICarly who was obsessed with Randy Jackson. Her twin.

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blipsman@reddit

We didn't have kids as hall monitors narcing on other kids, etc. but we did have a security guard who roamed the school and we had teachers who sat at desks in 2 key hallway locations during their off periods. They'd usually be working on their lesson plans or grading papers, but would ask to see hall pass if you went by med-period.

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ATLien_3000@reddit

none of them had hall monitors.

I call bullshit on that.

Unless your teachers never stepped foot in the hall between classes.

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Particular_Bet_5466@reddit

My school in Wisconsin did in the 2000s. It became teachers in highschool that would chase down kids trying to leave or wander the halls.

In like middle school it was some sort of privilege for the try hard kids to just wander the halls with some badge. I think we might have had this in highschool too.

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ndubitably@reddit

We didn't really have them in the 90's at the schools I attended. K-8th may have a large keychain that you took with you as otherwise a random teacher or administrator may think you're lost but there wasn't someone just waiting in the halls or even patrolling.

Come high school (9-12), you were trusted to roam freely and usually left alone unless you were being disruptive.

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Morak73@reddit

As a sub had a very urban High School that had a security staff member watching the hall across from the restrooms.

Last period of the day, the person would pulled for dismissal duty. They were replaced by a student lookout who would make, loud, snide comments about any adult coming down the hall approaching the bathroom, which was occupied by 2 or 3 of his friends.

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rawbface@reddit

We had "safety" monitors in middle school. They wore an orange sash with a badge and would enforce the rules at recess, drop-off and pick-up. They could write you up if you misbehaved or caused problems.

It was not a thing for me in high school.

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Careless-Jury6594@reddit

I graduated hs in ‘93. We had them in elementary school. In HS it was staff that did tardy sweeps. They would close the gates to each hallway and round up all the kids stuck outside them. They also had teachers cruise some of the local breakfast spots during their off period to catch students who were ditching

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DistanceRelevant3899@reddit

We didn’t when I was a kid in the 90s. We just had hall passes that were sometimes ridiculous. One of my teachers had a hall pass that was just a big ass brick.

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Lock_Squirrel@reddit (OP)

See, this sounds like what I went through. Everything from a ruler to a laminated piece of paper to....I think one of the teachers used a toilet seat?

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eggelemental@reddit

I graduated HS 07 and our hall passes were forms that had to be filled out and like stamped, like a passport, and there were roaming hall monitors that would check to make sure your hall pass was filled out. It was the worst, a let me see your papers ass school

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Lock_Squirrel@reddit (OP)

Oh my gods that's insane and I hate it.... Fucking respect my authoritah ass school....

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eggelemental@reddit

Sometimes we had to carry the form hall pass AND some stupid huge toilet seat with “BATHROOM PASS” sharpied on it, when a teacher was on a particular power trip. It was so weird. Maybe it’s because there were way too many kids at my high school, it was SUPER overcrowded, it was the only HS in my town and my town was the like fifth largest township in the whole state so it was chaos

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vicvonqueso@reddit

I had a teacher that used one of their football trophies from high school, and the thing was probably about 3 feet tall

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Robbylution@reddit

They were too busy hauling around the femur from the biology teacher's plastic skeleton mock-up to notice.

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EclipseoftheHart@reddit

My favorite hall pass in high school was a bison femur our science teacher had.

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lollipop-guildmaster@reddit

My high school did in the 90s.

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sircastor@reddit

Mine did too - though it stopped being kids and were just staff members.

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xXxjayceexXx@reddit

Class of 2000 and my elementary school had student hall monitors and my highschool had professional security.

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Basicly-Inevitable@reddit

Man, the amount of teachers at my school that ended up arrested isn't a small number.

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Itchy_Pangolin_394@reddit

same. Our hall monitor later opened up a bar and then got arrested and convicted of tax fraud.

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rco8786@reddit

I was a hall monitor in my elementary school. Had the sash and badge and everything. Circa 1995 or so. No clue if they're still a thing.

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Ok-Cap-204@reddit

I had the orange sash and badge, but I was safety patrol outside.

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Timely_Ad2614@reddit

We security in all the builldings.

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ALoungerAtTheClubs@reddit

I think my dislike of authority may have stem from being scolded by an orange-sashed menace in like 1989. AHMAB.

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_-Cleon-_@reddit

They used to be a lot more common in the 80s and 90s.

These days they just use "school resource officers" (cops).

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Lock_Squirrel@reddit (OP)

I was in middle school when my little tiny Southern town started using SROs... Man that was weirder than I ever realized.

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Plane_Complex9080@reddit

We had a sro but I only ever actually saw him at school twice. We did have hall monitors and the vice principal would patrol hallways and even the bathroom because people would smoke in the bathroom. He would smell your fingers and check to see if you had a smokers note from your parents. Class of 94

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famousanonamos@reddit

I went to school in the 80s and 90s and we didn't have them. They've never had then at the schools my daughter went to either.

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cuckoodev@reddit

I don't remember having hall monitors, but we had safety monitors for arrival and dismissal. I think my older sister was one iirc

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BeeFree66@reddit

We had hall monitors when I was a child. Not sure when using students as hall monitors ended.

Now, teachers are expected to be at their doorway / close to it during passing times. That's the new hall monitor.

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I_am_Russ_Troll@reddit

Our High School does have a hall monitor

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RelevantShock@reddit

My junior and high schools did, and they were pretty militant in their enforcement!

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AllReihledUp@reddit

Yep. Same at my high school. They sat at desks at random places in hallways and at all entrances, would check our ID's to see if we had a free period, permission to leave campus, or were supposed to be in class.

Most were kind and friendly, but rules were definitely enforced. I was always a "tell me the rules and I'll follow them" kind of kid so I never had any issues with them.

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currburr21@reddit

We didn’t have hall monitors until my senior year & they were kind of crazy…the librarian (who was super cool btw) would always tell us to “dodge the snipers” in the hallway 😂😭

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AndreaTwerk@reddit

Not student ones, staff whose duty is to be in the halls between classes yes. I'm a high school teacher and every school I've worked in has this.

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Ok-Possibility-9826@reddit

i was a hall monitor in elementary school lol

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Roadshell@reddit

There weren't any in my personal experience.

Not even sure how that would work. Like, I would assume the hall monitor would either be some power mad asshole of a kiss-ass who'd get their asses kicked for being snitches.

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people_r_us@reddit

Yes, but not in the way you're probably thinking. At my highschool there were a few (3-5 or so I think) people they called hall monitors, and they would essentially roam the halls and monitor study halls to make sure nobody got up to anything. A lot of students tended to hate them (though I didn't have problems with any of them). They had earpieces and could communicate across the school, and one of them who we called Miss K would magically appear anywhere a fight even had a chance of starting.

So we didn't have people stationed in each hall (though teachers would often stand outside their doors to talk and give directions to students), but there were roaming "hall monitors" who were essentially supposed to keep the peace. We also had two building police officers but that's a different thing altogether.

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_nousernamesleft_@reddit

Graduated high school in 2011. Have been a teacher since 2015. I've never seen a hall monitor in real life.

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DependentSky1637@reddit

Graduated in ‘78- never saw one either.

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Lock_Squirrel@reddit (OP)

Oh you're just a hair younger than me, I graduated in '09, happy to see somebody else going, "What is this 'hall monitor' of which you speak?" 🤣

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MortimerDongle@reddit

My high school did not, though we did have two elderly "security guards" that might ask what you're up to if you were wandering during class periods

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Kindofcroft@reddit

My daughter's elementary school has kids who help open doors at the car drop-off line and guide the smaller kids into the school. I'm sure they probably help with some stuff inside during the day as well, but I couldn't tell you what. We never had any when I was in school though, and I graduated in 2010.

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psiprez@reddit

Our primary school does (ages 5-11).

The schools for older kids have "community partners/resource officers" (police officers) who act as hall monitors, security, anti-drug educators and role models.

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Audio-Starshine@reddit

I've never personally encountered a school that had hall monitors. I thought that was just a television thing. How does that even work? Why are those kids not in class when everyone else is?

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bangbangracer@reddit

I remember having those in elementary and middle school. That was also a very long time ago, so I don't know if that counts.

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KellyAnn3106@reddit

My high school had five buildings and an open campus. If you didn't have a class scheduled during a particular period, you could be anywhere except hanging out in the hallways as it could be disruptive to classes in session. We didn't have official hall monitors but we had security members who would keep the hallways clear during class periods.

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blking@reddit

Mine didn’t, just teachers.

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gg61468@reddit

Mine did but it was the 80’s

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BrowynBattlecry@reddit

There isn't funding for enough teachers, let alone for people to stand in hallways! Kids can't do it because they might miss state test prep. Now there are just cameras.

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MGaCici@reddit

Yes. Our county school system does.

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Ambitious-Emu-9839@reddit

We had "safety patrol" that wore shashes and walked around the halls in the mornings and when it was time to leave

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DuelJ@reddit

No, though my school had an assigned cop, students who applied to help the library/IT, and iirc students applied to help administration.
They did functionally act as such.

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Icy-Candidate-6467@reddit

My HS , from 02-06 had some. It was usually seniors and juniors.

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MageDA6@reddit

We didn’t at any of the schools i went to from 99-12. We didn’t even have Hall passes. There weren’t even teachers that patrolled the halls during/after class periods. We just had Officer Sly and that was it.

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EgbertSouse2@reddit

Our grade schools didn't, but it seemed someone always knew we were in the hall when we supposed to be in class. No cameras in the 1960s. High school did, they were usually upperclassmen who had an unscheduled class period.

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Lezlord-69@reddit

Yes, I went to highschool in the mid 2010s. Our lead hall monitor was a retired cop. She would ride around the parking lot in a golf cart to catch kids attempting to leave school early. We didn’t really have hall passes in high school tho. the monitors mainly just are there to make sure kids aren’t hanging out in the hallways avoiding class

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CinemaSideBySides@reddit

Went to school in the 90s/00s and we didn't. I went to small private schools though so I always assumed it was a public school thing, like "middle school" or "junior high."

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Straight_Swan3838@reddit

I graduated high school last year. Never heard of them.

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Individual_Check_442@reddit

I think the shows might show them as being students who’s job as hall monitor that’s not real but many schools do have hall monitor - they’re just called security guards.

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AnastasiusDicorus@reddit

yes, they're called vice principals

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H2Ospecialist@reddit

No, but we had hall passes. 90s- early 2000s.

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OwslyOwl@reddit

Yes - and they were so strict when I went to school one literally waited til I finished using the bathroom to say I wasn’t allowed to use that particular bathroom during lunch. I had to use the one by the lunchroom that was always gross.

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Consistent-Luck-2907@reddit

High school teacher here. We have duties during half our planning period and one is hall duty. I hate it. But yeah. Teachers sit in the hallway and ask to see passes or check it on our online pass system. Admin also walk the halls at my school. I’d bet the vast majority of American public schools have some form of hall monitors during classes.

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PrimalColors@reddit

My school hires hall monitors

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icekraze@reddit

Mine had them but they were all staff not kids. The majority of their use was while class was in session to make sure students were not just wandering the halls or vandalizing stuff. Our school was overcrowded so it was pretty hard to police anything during passing time because it was just wall to wall students. After I graduated they built a larger school and there was a lot more policing of passing time.

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alternateldog@reddit

My middle and high school had security guards that would walk the halls during classes, stood around the cafeteria during lunch, by the buses during pickup/dropoff, etc.

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Ecthelion510@reddit

I was in school 1979-1992. None in Elementary or Middle school, and in High School we had teachers who would act as hall monitors, but I've never actually seen a student one.

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Even-Breakfast-8715@reddit

We had yellow school buses too. And blackboards, duplicators, mimeographs, showers in locker rooms, roll call, and book covers made from grocery bags. We did not have backpacks, but my grandkids do.

I don’t think that any films or video shows made in the USA would get away with presenting something as a routine part of school if that was not real (science fiction aside). Why do folks ask things like “are yellow school buses real?” You think Hollywood just invented them? Why would you think that?

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PabloPicasshooole@reddit

We had deans riding around the perimeter on golf carts but no student enforcers

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meghab1792@reddit

Now we have school resource officers with guns.

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Responsible_Side8131@reddit

1980s. Teachers definitely had hall duty when I was in high school. And the principal walked the halls all the time.

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smythe70@reddit

Yep, multiple and the sweetest one was this wonderful lady who I adored, another female and one scary male monitor.

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Considering_Lilies18@reddit

We did in the 2010s - a monitor for each floor

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Few-Durian-190@reddit

I want to say our elementary school did but middle school onward didn’t.

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thebravekingamelia@reddit

Yea. We had them in middle school. I don’t think we had them in high school, though, which is odd. They were always the douchiest, incorruptibles, too.

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OhNoBricks@reddit

Mine never did.

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Weird-Toe-6968@reddit

Even better, now we have school resource officers. The US is crushing it! /s

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Alert-Willow3458@reddit

I remember having them in kindergarten but I don’t remember how much authority we had LOL. Their job was probably just to snitch on a kid if they’re loitering the halls

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AcademicSavings634@reddit

I’m a school security guard. We’re basically just glorified hall monitors

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holymacaroley@reddit

We didn't in the 80s and 90s, they didn't at the school I taught in during the 2000s, and they don't have them at my kid's school now.

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Medium-Major-6124@reddit

I never had them in the 2010s. The closest we had to a hall monitor was the campus police officer roaming the halls here and there

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Jace678@reddit

My school was on the rougher side. It was quite common for people to ask to go to the bathroom or locker and just skip class/take a long time. So we did have adult hall monitors who checked the halls and bathrooms a lot. Usually just teachers who had a free period and would sweep the school.

Definitely never seen another student be a hall monitor though.

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PsychologicalAir8643@reddit

No hall monitors and no bathroom passes

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Lock_Squirrel@reddit (OP)

Wait you could just LEAVE to go pee? Like before college?

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Weird_Squirrel_8382@reddit

We didn't have student hall monitors at schools I attended late 90s early 2000s. We had security guards and the teachers stood outside their classroom doors until the bell rang.

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Cudi_buddy@reddit

Yea. At least in high school. There were a few guys that were hired and they made sure you weren’t wandering the school or late to class.

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Razoras@reddit

Mine did in the 90s. They took their jobs very seriously. They even checked ID cards to verify whether students were allowed out of the school or not during lunches.

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fidgety_sloth@reddit

My kid’s high school has hall monitors. The middle school did too.

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Mitth-raw-nuruodo50@reddit

In the 80’s we had the safety patrol in my school. Same thing different name. Was the 5th grade nerds. Nobody liked them. You can only imagine how bad they got picked on back then. It was social acceptable to pick on nerds in the 80’s.

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hitometootoo@reddit

Maybe not in this day and age with cameras but they did exist.

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Meowmeowmeow31@reddit

My Boomer parents remember having them. I think they’re one of those school things that lingers in media for a couple extra generations, because the writers are remembering their own childhoods or the pop culture of their childhoods.

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ancj9418@reddit

I had them in middle school and I think possibly in high school, but they were teachers or administrators, not students. In high school the teachers all stood outside their classrooms during passing time, too.

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WildCherryLane@reddit

It wasn’t anything students did . Usually there were 1-2 teachers about though monitoring the halls.

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AbiWil1996@reddit

We didn’t here. We just had admin and teachers on their break period who would walk the hallway occasionally

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tranquilrage73@reddit

In the 1980s we had them in the elementary (k-5) school I went to. They were called "safety guards," and got to wear orange vests.

They were mostly there to remind other kids not to run up and down the hallways and stairs, and expedite bus loading/unloading.

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foozballhead@reddit

Yeah some of mine did back in the day. None of my daughter's schools did though.

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jessek@reddit

It’s something back in the day. They’d phased it out by the time I was a student but teachers mentioned it being a thing in the years before.

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cruzweb@reddit

No students were hall monitors, but we had adult security staff who were effectively hall monitors.

I remember kids being safety patrol in elementary school, basically wearing a sash and being present between classes and before / after school.

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