At the beginning of the 2023-4 school year, a new system was put in place in an attempt to organize student activity in the form of the E-Hallpass website. Students and teachers are now required to use E-Hallpass whenever a student requests to leave the room.
Announced on the first day of school, the website works as a digital replacement for signing out/paper passes, requiring students to log on to the E-Hallpass website to send a request to the teacher. Teachers can adjust the settings to E-Hall Pass.
Some teachers allow students to access certain bathrooms without requiring their approval on the website. Certain locations require the teacher to approve the request on the website before the student is permitted to leave the room. Students themselves are able to ‘favorite’ locations and teachers in order to save time when creating a pass.
Last year, there were many instances where the school bathrooms and hallways were more crowded with students than they should have been. A survey taken by students last year revealed that students felt most uncomfortable in the school bathrooms, one of many reasons for the E-Hallpass. Principal Keri Hagness elaborated that the system is “primarily for safety reasons- It helps us know where our students are located in the event of an emergency.”
Despite the intended purpose of the website, student response has been mostly negative since the system was originally made active, and has remained as such for the initial weeks that school has been in session.
Students have mentioned how using E-Hallpass is time-consuming and interrupts class, with senior students Michael Hicks and Mason Mester sharing that it gets in the way of class, despite the teacher’s intentions. Fellow senior David Mantilia also said “It loads too slowly on Chromebook,” adding that “It’s just easier to raise your hand.”
Students see E-Hallpass as an unnecessary means of keeping track of student activity and a sign that school faculty don’t trust them enough to leave on their own. Junior Leif Gustafson believes it unnecessary. Many also note that some teachers have been struggling to use the E-Hallpass themselves when signing students out. “It’s very impractical.” Junior Cora Dunham states.
Thoughts on improving this new system have been mixed, in part because many students don’t even use the website or the school bathrooms at all outside of the three lunch waves (which don’t require using it). Senior Emely Andino suggested that students should be able to stay logged into E-Hallpass once the tab is closed, instead of needing to sign in every time the website is closed and re-opened. Junior Aden Gadun stated that the timer should be removed from the E-Hallpass.
The majority of students have said they’d prefer to remove the website entirely and return to the older methods of sign-out. They “should get rid of it, use a physical sign-out sheet instead,” Senior Tyler Schroder commented. Tyler also stated “E-Hallpass won’t stop bad stuff. Students will keep doing it anyway.”
While the main goal of the E-Hallpass system is to keep students safe, all students interviewed have stated that the E-Hallpass hasn’t made them feel any safer around school. Many of these students stated that they’ve never felt unsafe in school before it was put into service.
Opinions on E-Hallpass are subject to change as students grow more accustomed to the system in place. Steps have already been taken to streamline the use of E-Hallpass, such as giving students the ability to sign themselves out without the need for teacher approval. “The bathrooms are definitely less crowded now,” sophomore Owen Lombardi shared, “though students still end up doing stuff they shouldn’t.”
Though student response to E-Hallpass is mostly negative, the school year has only just started. More time is needed to determine how well students are able to adapt with the new schedule in place.
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