Students Frustrated with e-Hall Passes

From using OneNote to Google Docs, technology has become an affluent part of Freedom High School students’ lives. This investment in technology makes student life easier and more productive – for the most part.

Recently, students have been frustrated with e-Hall passes, as some were stopped in the hallway even if they brought a device to show their pass. According to a source who chose to remain anonymous, they were even stopped by multiple hall monitors in one trip.

“I’ve had to stop many students [who did not fill out a pass] in the hallway, but as long as you fill out a pass, you’re good. Hall monitors can look up your name and e-Hall pass destination, so students [technically] do not have to bring a device with them,” said Christine Reemsnyder, an FHS study hall teacher.

Hall monitors can check if students filled out an e-Hall pass, but some students are still forced to go out of their way to show proof of completion. For instance, several students had to walk back to their classroom to bring their device used for their e-Hall pass. Although this strictness is enforced to improve the safety, supervision and obedience of Freedom students, this doubles the time it takes for students to reach a destination. This inconvenience delays students from reaching their destination, which then takes away their precious class time. 

For staff members, the e-hall pass system itself has made it easier to manage where their students are, how long they go out for, and when to make appointments for them. 

“I do prefer e-Hall pass:  It allows me to create an automatic flow of students to and from restrooms, and it also allows students to take the responsibility much like their faculty during our meetings or else our university courses,” said Damian Tremblay, an FHS Latin teacher. 

Instead of writing and handling physical passes, teachers only click a few buttons. This saves class time and helps teachers manage their students’ whereabouts, allowing them to focus on teaching. Students can also take initiative for their actions by starting, stopping and scheduling e-Hall passes with teachers. 

Besides these minor complications, e-Hall pass has mostly improved the lifestyle of students and staff, making it a convenient, organized system to accommodate Freedom’s technological advancements. Even if students are stopped in the hallways, forget to end their passes, or encounter similar issues, students and staff are still adjusting to full in-person learning and the increase of online applications (OneNote, e-Hall pass, etc). As e-Hall passes are fairly new, having a solid, organized school system takes time, and these problems are likely to be resolved as the year goes by.