When a student at Benilde-St. Margaret’s becomes temporarily injured, they may receive a backpack pass from the main office. Unfortunately, faculty members have noticed repeated patterns with students abusing this privilege and making attempts to use it long past the expiration date.

Kathleen Huyck, BSM receptionist and administrative assistant in the main office, explains the steps involved in obtaining a backpack pass. “[Students] usually have to bring a doctor’s note and get it approved through a dean. Then the dean will ask for a note or call a parent to ask, ‘This really happened to your child and they really got hurt?’ We start out conservative like a week or two weeks and then revisit. I keep track of it on a spreadsheet on my computer. I watch their expiration date to see if it’s about to expire, and if it is I ask for it back so they get called down to the office to turn it in. Those are usually the parameters we work with,” Huyck said.

The expectations of having a backpack pass are fairly easy to follow, yet it seems as if the rules need clarification because students tend to ignore them on a regular basis. “Some of the standards we hold our students to are that they are able to leave class a few minutes early. And if they have classes downstairs, they can use the elevator, but they can’t bring like their friends with them…I just know not everyone listens to these directions,” Huyck said.

With that being said, it can be irritating when students do not exhibit reliable behavior with backpack passes and use them improperly. “We have occurrences where children say they are going to bring it tomorrow because they couldn’t find it. Then they bring it back and then change their expiration date. Which makes me think that teachers aren’t at least checking on these students who are hurt every once in a while. I just think it would be super helpful for me if they could,” Huyck said.

Even students have pointed out the improper use of backpack passes among their peers. Oftentimes, they are using them for ridiculous reasons that wouldn’t usually require someone to need a backpack pass in the first place. “I know someone who said they broke their back, but getting a backpack pass for that just doesn’t make sense. And then there was someone who said he got it for organization… None of it really adds up in my head. I mean, you wouldn’t need a backpack pass for those things,” sophomore Ellery Schoen said.

For injured students, it can be upsetting to hear about backpack passes being used irresponsibly. “It is quite hard because I’m disabled with a torn meniscus and can’t walk… You can see that nothing’s wrong with people who abuse these passes and they’re using it to leave class early and all that stuff so it just seems unfair,” junior Xavier Lumpkin said.

The BSM community has a frequent number of backpack pass users throughout the school year, but administration has become more hesitant than ever about handing more out. Because of the damage and chaos that has emerged from the abuse of backpack passes, it has become a major inconvenience, especially in the lives of many staff members. Although they are attempting to limit the number of people who use them improperly, it is ultimately up to the students to behave appropriately when it comes to these issues.