E-Hallpass: the simple & convenient way

This year, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin issued an executive order to ban all cell phones from bell-to-bell, with the policy being in place for all K-12 public school students in Virginia.

Even though this policy came with good intentions, it led to some consequences and changes in routines, such as West Springfield High School removing E-Hall passes and switching to paper passes.

According to Principal Dr. Jim Patrick, E-Hall passes were removed to decrease the amount of cell phone use among students.

“Most students were using their cell phones for E-Hall pass. Since cell phone bans by the new state law have been in place, we can’t have them during the day with the exception of lunch,” said Patrick.

However, many students used their school laptops to make E-Hall passes to the teacher. With three simple clicks, students could easily request permission to use the bathroom.

Paper passes are much more time consuming for both teachers and students. Many students believe it is much easier to fill out and approve an E-Hall pass online than to physically fill out a paper pass.

“E-Hall pass was just much easier because I could just make a quick pass to my teacher and have them accept it,” said sophomore Amna Murtaza.

A primary benefit of E-Hall pass was that it could track the time of when a student leaves and how long they were out. With the new paper passes, there is no electronic tracking system, making it harder for the school to know how long students were out, as well as how many students were in the hallways.

“It’s harder for me to keep track of who’s been out. I have to write down times rather than the E-Hall pass tracking 15 minutes in case someone’s spent more than 15 minutes,” said algebra teacher Tina Nham.

Paper passes have been seen as more distracting to the classroom environment. Instead of submitting a pass online, students must raise their hand or go up in front of the class to write a pass, interrupting the teacher.

“[Paper passes] have been more disruptive, you could be in the middle of notes and then I have to stop and write a pass for someone,” said Nham.

Government teacher John Thorson thinks that E-Hall passes are less distributive to his classroom environment.

“I think E-Hall pass is much easier for me to manage, paper passes have had way more class interruptions,” said Thorson.

Another disadvantage of paper passes is the new flexing system. Students now have to fill out a Google Form the day before they want to flex out, making it inconvenient for students that could have something come up last minute.

Many students also find the new flexing system to be more difficult due to the extra steps required just to meet with your teacher. Sophomore Jennifer Luk says that the new flexing system makes it harder for her to flex to her teachers.

“I strongly dislike the new flexing system because making a pass a day in advance is just unnecessary especially if I have to retake something. I have to plan out my schedule and won’t be able to make it to another class for help or make-up work because I’m stuck to only that class,” said Luk.

Sophomore Roslyn Monahan agrees that because of the new flexing system, it can be harder for students to flex to teachers.

“If a student realizes they need to see a teacher [on the same day], the time limit on signing up could take away that opportunity, making it harder to get help when it’s most needed,” said Monahan.

Many students and teachers prefer E-Hall pass over paper passes because of its convenience and simplicity. If WSHS continues to use paper passes, hopefully they can improve some of its factors.

Paper passes: the traditional & visual way

This school year, West Springfield High School decided to remove E-Hallpass and switch to paper passes because of factors such as the recent phone ban.

Bringing back paper passes brought many positive changes to WSHS. Since the new paper passes have been in place, attendance has been increasing and more students are in their classes on time.

Assistant Principal Deonte Young said that the color-coded pass also help keep students where they’re supposed to be.

“I’ve experienced that with the passes being based on color for each level, it helps students to realize they have to get back to class, compared to going from floor one to floor three,” said Young.

Many teachers agree that paper passes are better than E-Hallpasses because they are more consistent. Last year, many teachers did not use the E-Hallpass. Compared to this year, all teachers must use paper passes no matter what.

“E-Hallpass was not consistently used by all teachers. Some teachers are better at it than others,” said government teacher John Thorson.

Paper passes are a physical pass, while E-Hallpass has no physical option. Now with the specified color in hand, students have a physical pass for wherever they need to go in the school.

“The current system gives you a visible representation of where you’re supposed to be. With the E-Hallpass, you wouldn’t know where the kid was supposed to be unless they showed you [E-Hallpass] on their phone,” said Thorson.

Even students agree that paper passes are better to track than E-Hall passes in some scenarios.

“I believe paper passes are an overall better way to keep track of students outside the classroom than E-Hallpasses,” said sophomore Alessandra Rodas-Maldonado.

The number of students leaving class has also decreased due to the physical passes being in use.

“Since [students] have to ask now, they don’t want to interrupt or they simply don’t want to ask at all. This makes students leave class a lot less, and actually stay for notes for a longer time rather than putting in an [E-Hallpass] and leaving immediately,” said algebra teacher Tina Nham.

“The E-Hallpass did the timing for me, but I also felt bad for kids that I would forget to stop their pass. And so then it would say they were out for 35 minutes when they were out for three,” said biology teacher Jennifer Owens.

Now with paper passes, teachers don’t have to monitor at all. World history teacher Mark Witzel said that paper passes make it much easier to control how many people are going out.

“I’ve always tried to keep it one at a time, but E-Hallpass was so hard to go and check because you’re in the middle of teaching. I’ve got things going on, and I have too many kids putting E-Hallpasses in. Now, I basically have paper control of people coming and going,” said Witzel.

Overall, paper passes bring many positive factors to WSHS and continue to receive positive feedback from both teachers and students.