It turns out the school’s new E-hall pass system has started. The question is has this new system worked out as well as they hoped, or has it been a total pain in the butt? 

This system affects the teachers along with the student body. I knew almost nothing about this new change, so I interviewed Associate Principal Brooke Mayo to find out more. Through talking with her, I found that the primary goals of these passes are to keep students in class as much as possible and to collect data on how long they are gone and where they frequently go. 

With any new change come positives and negatives. For starters, getting rid of the physical hall pass, which was gross, is a major positive. From an academic perspective, having more control over keeping kids in the classroom so they can learn is also a positive.

The main flaw I see with this system is it is a major distraction to students and teachers. If a teacher has chosen the option to approve a student’s pass, they will have to stop what they are doing to allow the student to leave. Or if they have the system set so the student does not need permission, they will still need to stop what they are doing once in and while to check where their missing students are. Similarly, I don’t understand how they plan not to have the system distract students during a lesson or test. Someone pulling out a Chromebook, logging in, creating a pass, and then leaving seems more likely to disturb other students in comparison to getting up, asking for permission, and going.

A lesser flaw is that students do not have access to the active pass (as passes are not on our phones) and will not know how much time they have left while doing whatever the pass was for. With the school becoming anti-phones, it’s interesting how they’ve decided to choose a pass that relies on electronics. As the passes are timed and students become flagged when their time is up, they can easily use up all their time and not even realize it. 

As this is still a new change, there will continue to be issues that have to be solved. Due to this being a relatively new system to TTSD, time will tell if it ends up being as beneficial as the administration hopes.