The Omaha North Nigh School Administration team started the 2025-2026 school year by implementing hall sweeps. While hall sweeps are not new to the building, they are being implemented much earlier than the past years. 

One of the core beliefs in Omaha Public Schools is that “every minute counts.” Since the COVID-19 pandemic, attendance across the whole district has taken decrease with not only students missing full days of school but also being late. 

“Because every minute counts, we have adopted some building practices to encourage students to get to class,” said Elizabeth Anderson, Assistant Principal and Data Processor. 

All attendance in the Omaha Public School District is counted by minutes. In total, a high school student should be in school for 415 minutes.  

The consequences for getting caught in a hall sweep are the same for all students. If a student gets caught in the halls after the announcement has been made, they must meet with a member from the school administration team. Together, they determine what day works best for the student to serve a detention. Once it has been determined, the student heads to class with a yellow pass in hand and the administration teams sends an email to their guardians informing from the situation. 

All detentions must be served after school. This is a change from last year due to the fact that students had an option to serve them during lunch.  

If a student does not attend the detention on the given day, a bigger consequence will be discussed.  

Although the staff at North see the positives to hall sweeps, not all students agree. Since the start of the year, there have been a handful of students responding negatively to receiving one. 

 “Students sometimes make up excuses why they can’t show up to detentions, like saying they have a job that isn’t actually real,” said Michael Lathan, Security Guard. 

Not only do students make up excuses to try to get out of serving a detention, there have also been instances where students just leave the building rather than getting caught in the hall sweep. 

The implementation of hall sweeps has seen a positive impact on the amount of students getting to class. 

“Based on the past week, we’ve already given out much less hall sweep slips, this is because students are understanding the times they need to make it to class” said Tara Oxley, Dean of Students. 

This policy has already help decrease overall tardies at North.