Walking down a school hall with an earbud in each ear or headphones covering both ears is a thing of the past. School administration has implemented a new policy requiring students to have one ear free of a headphone in light of safety concerns.

“We want to be able to communicate with students, and sometimes when they have both earbuds in, they can’t hear when we are calling to them,” assistant principal Kristen Sommers said. “So it was really a safety concern for us.”

Administration will ask students to remove one earbud if they are seen listening to music with two earbuds in their ears. The policy will be enforced in the hallways, cafeteria, and other communal settings on campus. In classrooms, the teachers will define their policy on the subject at their own discretion.

“We are one of the few schools that allow students to use headphones to listen to music between classes,” Principal Scott Warstler said. “We don’t want to take that away. We don’t mind students putting on some music in between passing periods and getting into their own space or zone.”

The school is not doing this to infringe upon the student body’s right to listen to music. The change was made simply to make it easier for administration and faculty to get the attention of students.

“The problem that we have is when you’re walking down the hall with two earbuds in and we are asking to get your attention, you don’t hear us,” Warstler said. “It’s a respect thing, we ask that when you’re in the building to only have one in, so if we need to get your attention we can call your name instead of chasing you down.”