Thanks to everyone who responded! I received an avalanche of great
replies that give me a lot of pause for thought. I think the school of
thought primarily goes one of two ways: first, have students get passes
ONLY from the library in the a.m. or second, have the teachers requiring
the research create the passes and then study hall teachers sign them.
Here's the list of postings (condensed). I went with the first few
days of responses as I received far too many to document entirely (which
really made me happy!)
I appreciate the sage advice!
Jenn
It's not great, but it's better than what you've got. Students must
get
a pass from a subject teacher (eg. their English teacher, science
teacher, etc.) The pass must state the reason for the visit (project
they are working on, etc.). Students present these passes to the
study
teacher, who also signs the pass and sends them on their way. Study
teachers may not issue passes to the library, they may only send the
students who have a pass from a subject teacher. Due to the inequity
of
study hall numbers during the day, some periods are busier than I
would
like, and of course, there are those teachers that are pushovers and
will always give a pass, but it's better than the alternative. Next
year we are eliminating study halls. I am really looking forward to
that.
When I was in jr/sr high school we had to get a pass from our subject
teacher. They were two part passes which the teacher would sign and
give
to the student. Who would then fill in with their name, what they
needed
to do in the library, date, etc. The students would leave study hall
and
go to the library. The small portion of the pass would be torn off and
returned to the study hall for attendance purposes. The teachers would
give out how many passes they felt the assignment would need.
We run into much the same problem. IF students are not working we
will
warn them and then send them back to class. We have several
"repeater"
students who constantly give us problems. We now do not allow them
into
the media center without their pass actually saying what work the
students are in the media center for. It is a constant issue.
We don't have study hall, but to prevent problems, any time a student
comes to the Library during class time, that student must have a pass,
signed by the teacher, and the student must have something to work on
(quietly) - students sign in at the circulation desk and we check
their
passes - if any student is a problem, we send them back to the
classroom
(we aren't a babysitting service).
I used to use the sign up in the morning system and I really liked it.
It put the responsibility on the student to decide ahead of time how
he/she was going to spend study hall. Also, it limited the "jokers" -
they were allowed in the library only once. There were limited spaces
each period. Each student had to sign up - no signing up friends.
Due to a change in my morning responsibilities, I give the study hall
teahers library passes with a limited # of spaces. Unfortunately, the
ones sent seem to be the ones that really don't have need of the
library.
I am in a small school so our study hall sizes are not huge. I allow
for 1/3 of the students in a study hall to come to the library with a
maximum of 20 from a large study hall. This allows room for students
on
classroom passes; short passes from study hall (return a book kind of
thing), etc.
I limit the number of students for a couple of reasons. #1: the
study
hall has an assigned teacher so all of the students should not be with
me. #2: While students are in the library, I am working on a variety
of
jobs - helping individuals, processing books, etc. so I can not take
the
time to oversee a study hall in the traditional manner.
I still have students who have nothing to do - but they either read a
magazinebook, newspaper, etc. or back they go.
If I had my choice, I would go back to the morning sign ups.
I made up a sign in sheet which I
ran off on the copier and handed them out to all study hall teachers.
Only 10 students
are allowed from each study hall. They must come down together as a
group, no
stragglers. Also they must have books with them and intend to work;
otherwise they
are sent back to study hall.
Anyone causing a disruption in the library can be banned for up to two
weeks.
No games or card playing is allowed; also no ipods, cell phones, etc.
It is still a battle
to get students to work. Some study hall teachers are more cooperative
than others.
I try to book as many classes in here for research projects,
presentations, etc. so I
can close the library those periods to study halls altogether.
Good luck. I t is not easy. It is one of those things we must continue
to be diligent
about;otherwise students will get the idea that they can come to the
library just to
goof off, thus disrupting those trying to work.
I have been requiring students to obtain a pass from the library
before
school starts for about 8 years. I find that this system works very
well except for a few rogue teachers who write their own passes for
students usually because the student feeds them a line. If that
happens, I allow the student to stay but give them a warning that they
will be sent back to study hall next time if they don't have the
correct
pass. With this system, students arrive with work to do. Plus, since
I
have control, I can restrict a student if they arrive without a plan
too
many times.
I have passes printed on NCR paper. They contain a place for the
students' name, date, SH teacher, period and time they left the study
hall. The student must first report to SH, have the teacher sign and
time the pass, then come to the library. Once they come to the
library,
they must stay in the library too. They are not permitted to run back
to their study hall if they finish their work.
Our students need to get a pass from the teacher issuing the assignment
before they can come to the media center. I also give each study hall
teacher 5 "browse" laminated passes that kids can use to read
newspapers,
magazines, look for a book, etc. That limits how many I have each
other
with nothing to do. I have also enforced a pretty strict no-talking
policy
for those kids.
When the library has not been reserved for a class, students are
allowed to come to the library during study hall time. There is a
maximum number of students allowed each period. There is also a rule
that they must keep busy the whole time they are here. If they finish
their research or homework early, they should be reading something for
the remainder of the period. If a student has trouble keeping busy, he
or she is given a warning, and if the situation persists, they are asked
to leave. Students who have to be asked to leave lose their study hall
library privileges for two weeks.
Our middle and high school students are required to have a note from
their classroom teacher testifying they have need to provide to the
study hall teacher before they will be issued a library/computer lab
pass. The library student staff monitors passes and the clerk or I
initial the pass and monitor for floating. They have to take the pass
back with them to the study hall with our signature and a time out. It
is a hassle in some ways and is a policy that has been in place for
several years but we had a recent bomb threat that caused everyone to
examine how much our students were able to move around freely. That
problem has been almost eliminated with enforcing the system. The
Principal reinforces the process at most staff meetings so no one has
done more than grumble. I created a short form and sent it via e-mail
so teachers could fill out their name, class, hour, etc before copying.
Sometimes I get torn off edges of paper. But a student must have a pass
or I call the teacher to verify. It has helped with floating, surfing,
and behavior problems getting dumped in the library
I feel your pain. What we require is that a student get a pass from
the
teacher who is assigning the work that needs to be done in the
library.
The student then shows the study block monitor that pass and the
monitor
signs him/her out to the library. This puts the onus on the student to
plan ahead (what a concept) and get the pass. It also prevents you as
the librarian from having to play judge and decide who really needs to
come. (After all, they could tell you anything just like they can tell
the study block monitor.) Of course, it is still not perfect. The
students can figure out which teachers will just give them a pass. We
do
try to monitor as much as possible. If a student is coming every day
and
not working, we email the teacher and let him/her know that that
student
is getting a "vacation" from the library. We always try to be
positive,
though, and remind them that they are also allowed to come before or
after school. If a student is disruptive and causes problems, we can
write them up as a discipline referral. That's what we do, and it has
made life much more productive in the library.
I don't usually respond to queries, but having battled
this issue and won I will. It took about two years of consistency from
me and backing from my principal to overcome learned behavior from
study
hall teachers. Here is what we do:
1. No student may come out of a study hall unless they have a
pass from a classroom teacher with an assignment.
2. Any student who does not have a appropriate pass, returns
with a signed pass with the time they left the library.
3. Teachers who write passes arbitrarily (i.e. any student who
wants one can get one) is reported to the principal by me.
4. All students must return to study hall before the end of the
period with a signed pass.
5. All passes that have not been signed and returned to study
hall teachers at the end of the day are turned in to my principal and
he
follows up with those teachers.I was not popular for awhile, but the
problem got solved. The library is
now a place where student work occurs. I have room for classes to work
and study hall students accomplish what they came to do. Get ready for
a
fight. Students will be mad, teachers will be mad and your principal
may
get tired of you. You have to be the brick wall. No one gets past you.
In the end, it is more than worth it. I am no longer a babysitter for
students who want to shop for prom dresses on the web or who just want
to socialize with their friends. Hang in there and stay tough!
Our study halls run just the way yours do. We allow students to stay as
long
as they are not too noisy. We do however, write notes to their SH
teachers
telling them if they were being disruptive and if they get 3 notes in
one
quarter, they are out for the rest of the quarter. If they're really
bad, we
just kick them out for the period.In my old school, kids had to have
their pass singed from a classroom
teacher with a specific assignment to be done. This cut down a lot on
kids
having nothing to do hanging out in the library.
We used to have a "policy" here that study hall teachers could only
issue passes for 10% of their students. Didn't work too well.
We've switched to my associate and I issuing passes and keeping track
of the hour by hour, so we can control how many students come in and *
frankly * who can come in. Because you always know who's in there
working and who's just escaping study hall. We tried a policy of just
issuing them before school, but we have a sizeable population who have
late arrival each day who wouldn't ever get a pass. I'd say this more
successful than leaving it in the hands of SH teachers, but still not
great.
We have over 2500 students. We tried the pass system and it worked well
with fewer students. As we grew we switched to a sign up system. Our
expectation is that students come to the Media Center because they need
our resources to do research, work together on a group project, or to
read magazines and newspapers.
We have an eight period day. Students need to sign up before school for
their study hall period or at least the period before the one they want
to come in. (We had too many students who were late to Study Hall,
trying to sign in as a way to cover themselves for attendance purposes.)
We have limited students to 3 times per week to make sure everyone has a
chance. We make exceptions for students who are working on projects and
just need more time.
We make copies of our Study Hall sheets and send them to the Study Hall
monitors so that they can take attendance. We hold onto the sheets and
they come in handy when a student claims that they were here and their
name isn't on our sheets.
We average about 20 students from Study Hall each period. That's in
addition to classes that come in to use the computer labs.
Call me a control freak but I control it all. Students must request a
pass from me in the morning before 1st period - they must ask with
"Please" and "may I" --- it is the way I can control the amount in the
library.
This is a topic that comes up quite frequently. It has been
quite a struggle in my facility. I'm not a good disciplinarian and
like
to keep the atmosphere relaxed, but when you have too many "lounge
lizards" it becomes a losing battle to keep the lid on the commotion
and
horseplay. I'm attaching our list of guidelines. You need to find
some
way of keeping the students out so you don't have to decide at some
point which ones need to go someplace else.
Well, I know of some high schools that have students get permission
slips
from the librarian at the beginning of the day if they want to come
during
study hall. Here at our school, I accept 8 students from each study
hall-
we have two each period. That means I have 16 study hall students in
here.
They must sign a slip with the study hall teacher and then that slip
is
brought to me. This way,the teacher knows where they are and I have a
list
for fire drills, etc. I keep this list and use it to help tally my
statistics. Also, the list is handy if there is some concern over where
a
particular student may have been.I also accept students for a quick
use of the library (print a paper, find
something fast) and we have a permission slip for that: it has lines
for
student name, teacher name, period, how long they may be at the
library,
when they left the classroom. Then I initial it when they are ready to
leave and enter when they left the library.
We have a policy that study halls can only send 7 students each (we
have
2-3 study halls a period.) First preference to get to the library are
students who have a pass from an academic teacher for a specific
assignment (in other words, they obtain a pass from their art teacher
to
come to the library during their study hall to do art research or they
get a pass from their math teacher to do an online program or they get
a
pass from their language arts teacher to read in the soft cushy
chairs.)
these students are given first priority to come in the 7 spots. On
the
rare, truly rare, occasion that there are more than 7 from one study
hall, they send one student up to see if I have room. If there are
not
7 students with passes (and it is rare), then anyone wanting to come
to
the library can sign up and come. Some periods I always get 7,
sometimes less. The teacher decides how to determine the 'free'
students come. Some do it by tables, some by alphabet, some by first
in
the room to sign up.We never have students complain they cannot get to
the library. We
average 125-175 walkins/study hall a day. I closely manage them the
first two weeks of school, and then I rarely have trouble. on the
rare
occasions they get too loud or messy, I cut off that period's study
hall
to free students for a day or a week. Rarely do I have issues, truly
rarely.
We tried the pass in the morning business, but that became out of
control with the number of students who wanted passes. So then we
limited it to ten passes a day, but that was difficult too. In the
end,
we decided to have the teachers write the passes and add what the
assignment is they said they needed to do. It helps keep them a
little
honest and keeps our numbers at a controllable level. Additionally,
we
only allow students in the library if they need library resources,
such
as the computers or books. If it is something they can do in their
classrooms, then they get sent back. It sounds like a lot of
policing,
but we are just trying to get students to understand that
homeroom/study
hall is building-wide and the library is only a place to hang out
before/after school, lunch, and open hours. I hope this helps...I'm
glad to hear that we are not the only ones with this issue. :)
Actually we don't have study halls, we have free periods which students
use as they wish. They often come to the library and I am all for it,
whether they are doing homework (usually), reading, or checking email/
It gives me a chance to hang out with them a bit, suggest a new book or
magazine, learn a bit about their interests. I'm happy to be "the place
to see and be seen."
Students are supposed to come with passes from their teachers. Often
times, this doesn't happen. I'll usually overlook it unless the
student
is causing a problem or if there are no seats left. If that's the
case,
I'll ask them to go back to their study hall. You should be able to
reserve the right to send them back to class- especially if they have
nothing to do.
We give all study hall teachers two laminated passes for them to send
kids to read/get a book for a time limit of 15-20 minutes. If a student
needs to come to the library for a longer period of time and wants to
use a computer, they must get a pass from one of their subject area
teachers (before study hall) and that pass must also be signed by the
study hall teacher. We copy the passes in the library on green paper
(one of our school colors) and distribute them to the teachers. When the
teachers are running low, they can email or call us for more.
Our study Hall requires what we call a reverse pass We give them out
either before school or between classes and it tells the study hall
teacher that the student is expected and welcome in the library. They
NEVER send students without checking with us. Today I have classes
scheduled every period doing research and I will have no computers for
drop ins. I am not issuing any reverse passes.
Our library passes have a line for purpose/reason for coming to use
the
library. One of the academic teachers (or the librarian), only, can
write a
pass to the library if a student needs to use the library for a
genuine
academic purpose. As soon as I see that a student is goofing off,
they
promptly get sent back to study hall. Study hall teachers may not
write a
pass to the library. This procedure works very well, apparently. Our
library is packed with students on task.
Our students to get out of study hall request a pass from the teacher
whose work they need to complete. Say, they need to finish typing
their
paper in English. They ask their English teacher for a study hall
pass.
It is filled out by the student- name, date and what they will be
working on. The English teacher signs it. During study hall they
present the pass to the study hall teacher. That study hall teacher
then can send the student as appropriate.If they need to finish
researching their Indian project for the history
teacher, they request a library pass. Again, presenting it to the
study
hall teacher.It has really helped us control fake requests or fake
assignments. We
do still get some, and had a few teachers' filling out passes for
students they don't have. Nipped that in the bud. Our biggest
problem
is study hall during one of the lunches, really have to watch the
students during those times.We sign the students out of the lab/lib
when they return to study hall.
We do watch, checking to see what their pass says and what they are
actually working on. Sometimes they still try to fake out the study
hall teacher. Because we know the projects happening, we can catch a
student who pulled a fast one on the study hall teacher.
My number is 5.
That is for any teacher wanting to send students. If we get full, we
send them back. If we aren't full, the teacher with a phone call can
request to send more.
Because many of the teachers when projects are happing are using the
labs, there might not be any room. We squish kids where they will fit,
and the rest go back to study hall. We are encouraging students to work
fast so others can take their place. Sometimes the study hall teacher
will put a time back, so another wave of students can come over.
We are open before school for 30 minutes, lunch times (run two lunches,
so might not be a lab available because a teacher is in) and after
school for an hour. Not really our problem if the labs are full, the
students need to use some of their time to complete assignments.
I also have access to all student folders, so I can e-mail things home.
If they need to send it back to me, I ask them to put their name in the
Subject line, that way I will not delete it as junk. I drop it back
into the appropriate folder adding something to the name of the file so
it doesn't over-write the original.
Our students must have a pass to come to the library, that has the
reason they're coming. If they can't produce this, then they go back to
class.
I do all study hall passes. Students have to get it before the study
hall period - they can't be late to study hall because they are getting
a pass from me. They go to study hall with the pass and after attendance
they come to the library. I don't do study hall passes if there are
classes scheduled here - at least that's a general rule, but there are
always exceptions - in fact, this year I've had such a good crowd of
kids from study halls that I usually do write them passes, letting them
know that they probably won't have access to a computer since classes
get those first if needed. This is a small school, only 650 students.
This plan has worked well for me - other years I've had more problems
with study hall students, so this system gives me some control too. If a
student is disruptive or disrespectful, I don't give him/her a pass for
a week or so - the ass't. prin. appreciates this too, less discipline
issues for him. We use a pre-signed pass system after years of having a
"free for all" in the library during study halls. It doesn't guarantee
that students have work, but if they've gone through the effort to get a
pass, I know they really want to be here.
All students coming to our library during study hall must have a pass
from
the subject teacher who's work they are doing. That pass is turned
into the
study hall teacher to allow the student to come to the library. We
(the
library staff)do not write passes for students nor do the study hall
teachers. It works well for us.
Jennifer Bates
English Teacher/Librarian
Central Columbia School District
4777 Old Berwick Road
Bloomsburg, PA 17815
Librarian is a service occupation. Gas station attendant of the mind.
~Richard Powers
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