Going to the bathroom has changed significantly in the last few weeks. You used to be able to grab a paper slip signed by your teacher, or just go without a pass at all. Now students have to use either a phone or Chromebook, put in where they want to go, and have a teacher plug in a pin in order to activate the electronic pass. Teachers think it adds innovation to our school, but some students may disagree. 

“It’s fine in regular classes,” says an anonymous freshman, “However, in study hall it’s really annoying. There is such a long line because everyone needs them if they have to go somewhere. Waiting to get the pin entered just takes too long.”

The E-Hallpass, designed by Eduspire Solutions, is an alternative to a paper pass. It’s an app and computer software that creates a simple digital pass if you have to leave your classroom. In order to activate the pass, your teacher must enter a PIN or click on it using the E Hallpass website. The same goes for when you return or arrive at your destination in the school. Once a pass is activated, a timer starts, tracking the time a student is gone from class. If you go over a certain amount of time, it gives you a flag. This can happen if a student forgets to ask a teacher to close the pass or if a teacher doesn’t properly enter their PIN in as well. 

“The E Hallpass started about a year ago at Woodgrove High School.” Said Mr. Armstrong, an assistant principal here at Heritage High School, “What we realized, with a normal paper pass there was no way of knowing if a student arrived at the location they said they were going. From a safety perspective, there was no way of knowing where a student was during an emergency situation. Loudoun County found this initiative extremely helpful to keep our schools safe, now the E Hallpass is used in almost every high school in Loudoun County.”

Now that we live in an age of technology, society has found several electronic alternatives to doing things. The E Hallpass is a digital record that has been able to help administration, students, and teachers. Mr. Armstrong also mentioned that there is no consequence for flagged passes, unlike popular belief. Administration looks at those flagged passes, if there is enough of them, in order to find out what is wrong with a student.

“It could be family or medical issues.” Added Mr. Armstrong, “It could even be that the two hundred hallway bathrooms get cleaned every fifth block so a student has to walk across the school just to use the bathroom. The point of the E Hallpass isn’t to punish students. It all goes back to safety and accountability.

Some teachers have mentioned that it takes away from instructional time while students should be focusing on their work. Instead, everyone pays attention to the student needing their E Hallpass activated, and then everyone slowly and slowly becomes less focused. It seems to be easier for students to use the bathroom before class and during the transition period, rather than during class. This has caused more students to miss less work and even has helped against students hanging out in the bathroom, just to miss class, because they don’t want to go through the process of having to activate the pass.

The old paper pass method wasn’t working for  any high school, not just Heritage. With so many students abusing the system it made sense to find an alternate method. From nine to four o’clock, Loudoun County is responsible for our safety and well-being.  They needed to find a better method in order to keep track of students around the school. The E Hallpass isn’t meant to be unfair. It’s just an alternate to a paper pass in a digital and modern age.