The Niles West deans have begun their random hallway sweeps each day during homeroom. The objective of these “surprise sweeps” is to encourage students to attend homeroom and get there on time. Students who are not in homeroom when approached by a dean may be given a detention.

Video announcements are shown regularly during homeroom, and counselors often use the time to check in with students. In the eyes of the deans, this makes it essential for students to be in attendance during homeroom.

Senior Julia Stoia recalls last week, when the deans of students started their hallway sweeps during homeroom. Stoia was right in front of her homeroom, the student commons, almost through the door, when a dean handed her a detention slip.

“He said I was four minutes late even when I told him my homeroom was literally right there. It was my first day of kayaking [in Adventure Ed] and at this point it’s smarter for me to stay in the locker room,” said Stoia.

A large portion of students have been ditching homeroom altogether, spending the 10 minutes walking around the school instead.

“We’ve had a lot of requests from teachers, and— visually — if you walk down the halls during homeroom, there are a lot of students without any passes, some of whom don’t even have a destination,” newly appointed dean of students David Hawk said.

Many teachers support the initiative taken by the deans to try and force students to attend home with more consistency.

“I don’t know how many [homeroom teachers] do, but I actually take attendance during homeroom and record tardiness for kids who are chronically late. I support [the deans] trying to get kids to homeroom. If we’re going to have homeroom, then you have to get kids to homeroom,” history teacher Chris Schwarz said.