E-hallpasses will return next year

This year LHS administrators added a new hall pass system called eHallpass which replaced paper passes with a digital system, and it doesn’t look like it will be going away anytime soon.

Students and teachers now use Chromebooks or cell phones to create passes. There are many opinions on it — some hate it, and some love it. All students of LHS and the younger grades are used to paper logout sheets and paper passes and this has been a big change.

E-hallpass (or sometimes spelled e_Hallpass) is an electronic pass that students have to create if they want to leave. Whether you’re leaving to go to the bathroom, your locker, or even another “directed learning time” (DLT).  From their devices, they then select their destination and where they’re departing from. 

According to teachers, the LHS administrators emphasize that these electronic passes should be created whenever a student leaves the classroom.

Some students don’t see the point.

“

It’s not worth the effort and time. The old log-out sheets worked better

— Junior Drew Smith

“It’s not worth the effort and time. The old log-out sheets worked better,” said junior Drew Smith. He acknowledges that it is good for administrators to know where students are at all times, however, “from a student’s perspective, it sucks and really is just a waste of time. It takes too long to set up.” 

Smith says he creates between two and five e-Hallpasses per week to go to the bathroom. “I just want to go to the bathroom but I have to take an extra minute to create a pass on my phone.”

He also added that sometimes e-Hallpasses don’t work and it causes frustration from both sides, student and teacher. Sometimes a student will create a pass, and the teacher supposedly approves it, but it never gets “officially” approved on the app. This can cause a disruption in the learning environment. 

In addition to that, he said it takes longer, further taking away from education. 

Smith stated that he wishes the hall pass system changes back to the old system. He believes that the paper sign-outs save time and cause less of a hassle. 

Junior Class President,Riley Londraville had a lot to say about the recently added e-Hallpasses. 

“I like it in certain situations, but in others, it is unnecessarily time-consuming,” said Londraville. 

She also added that it’s nice that teachers can send eeHallpasses to other teachers for the students instead of having to get a late pass or a pass for DLT.  

“Mrs. Sands would set them up the night before we needed to use them as a reminder to go to her class for a DLT and it was really convenient” stated Riley. 

On the other hand, she stated that it’s inconvenient to use for situations like using the bathroom or going to the nurse. In the case of using the bathroom, LHS only has one open in the entire school. She also stated that it takes a while to load the website up and then fill out the pass, then truck down to the one bathroom open. At that point, people would rather hold it.

“The teachers want to value our education but we’re missing more time with eeHallpasses in place just to use the bathroom.” 

Some teachers say the new pass system can be helpful.

“If everybody uses it, it’s an excellent tool,” said Mrs. Diana Sands, who is an AP Biology teacher.

She added, “Knowing where students are and how often they leave — it can prevent bad behavior, it ultimately serves as a safety tool.” 

Sands acknowledges that when she is engrossed in a lesson or teaching, and someone interrupts saying they made an e-Hallpass, she has to pause and it disrupts the flow. But she also added that the pros outweigh the cons. 

Sands creates the e-Hallpass for her students (instead of having them create their own). Although it still disrupts the class, it saves a bit of time. 

According to Assistant Principal Aaron Couture, e-Hallpasses are staying here at LHS next year as well.