The concept of a hall pass is completely alien to Danish schools. In the lower grades the children will put their hand up and ask the teacher who will say yes unless it's obviously frivolous. Teachers would rather have a student skip ten minutes of class than having to deal with piss-soaked clothes. As kids grow older they will just quietly get up and go to the bathroom without disturbing the rest of the class.

The hall pass system seems to really suck for students but it must also suck for teachers. Why do they put up with having to fill out forms for this? Leave it to Americans to invent bureaucracy to do and punishments to meter out for something as mundane as going to the little boys- or girls room.

Yes to your last question.