Students who need to get a drink of water or to go to the bathroom soon will be able to ask teachers for a digital hall pass on their Chromebooks or phones.

Teachers and students currently are still using paper passes. The new digital pass system, E-hall Pass by Eduspire Solutions, will get a “soft rollout” in the coming weeks and then the digital system eventually will replace the paper passes.

Once the program is in place, students will send requests for a pass through a program on their Chromebook or phone. Teachers will then be able to either approve or deny the request, either through their own laptop or phone, or through the student’s Chromebook or phone by entering their teacher passcode. 

Assistant Principal Candee Nagy said she is excited to test this new program.  She pointed out that the digital hall pass has a timer feature, so students and staff can see how long students were out of class on the pass.

“I think kids are pretty mindful of what they are doing. This program is meant to encourage kids to be productive with technology and be responsible for themselves,” Nagy said. 

Teachers will have the ability to set a certain number of available passes per period. This feature can be used to limit how many students enter and exit class, keeping students in class and productive, Nagy said. 

Students will have a selection of destinations that will be available to them through the system. They will then be able to create their own pass request and wait for approval from their teacher.  

The program also includes safety features. Security guards and hall monitors will receive notifications about which students are using a pass, allowing them to know who should be in the halls. Also, students can check in from another teacher’s classroom in case they were in the halls when an emergency like a lockdown began.

“Here we are in a 21st century school, and we are still using paper passes.  It’s more of a safety thing than anything really,” Nagy said.

The digital passes also mean that students will not receive agendas this year.

“We expect that students will take advantage of their Chromebooks, using programs like Google Calendar in place of agendas,” Nagy said.