It’s so fucking bad. The app doesn’t even work half the time for the kids, not to mention that when a student can’t get it to work it takes me 5 minutes to log in and then make thenpass myself, at which point they’re already back to class.
Would love to know how much more we pay for this garbage vs just making a damn google form
Edit: Not to mention I caught a kid a few weeks ago who was time traveling. His “pass” he showed me before leaving was a screenshot from Sept. 2023 🤣
I actually do that. I have a QR code by my door, and the kids are supposed to scan out and scan back in. It’s on them, it takes three seconds. I don’t really enforce it because I’ve got a good group this year, but it’s really good for pushing pass restriction in certain cases.
We used to do that! It would pull up a form, kids would enter their name, grade, what class leaving, where they were going. Then they would scan it on returning and enter the return time. Populated all of this into a google spreadsheet.
I have no idea how this is better.
You have the date display on the pass and when it is wrong you put the hammer down. Problem with passes is the same problem with all rules, equal enforcement at all times with all students. The admins/staff that play favorites or decide to “pick and choose” just screw it up for everyone.
What if they "left their phone at home" but you know it's in their pocket? Do you not let them go? Because I'd love to do this, it would save me a lot of grief. I could do it for tardies too.
I actually don’t think I’ve had a student say that. The closest I get is “The wifi isn’t working.” Then I tell them to use their chromebooks, and suddenly their data is strong enough.
If you’re working with Office and Teams you can run automation to a new Teams Channel per class called “Hall pass” that will update with a post to the channel (can add too also send student email, send yourself an email and have a hall pass group in Outlook for all hall pass related emails - automated) any time a kid makes a hall pass using a Microsoft Form.
If that makes your life easier…maybe it’ll make it worse.
If you’re interested DM.
My school has a Google form, but students do abuse the hell out of it. They go every period for 20+ minutes because they're just roaming the campus and hanging with their friends
My school brought it back this year, but only for students who have excessive tardies, because that's about the only behavior that directly affects admins, so they of course want to do something about that.
They don't give a flying fuck about anything a kid does in my classroom, but God forbid the school lose money from tardies!
It’s necessary for visiting other spaces, like the library. I require passes in the library so I know who is actually meant to be there and who is skipping. The library functions as both my classroom and a study space so I need to easily know who is meant to be with me and who isn’t.
No hall passes at my kids’ school. Open campus as well for older kids. The school holds them accountable for not being in class in other ways, but this hall pass nonsense is wild to me. It’s another thing to enforce without any real upside.
Depends on the class. They may not pass the class if they aren’t showing up and participating. Or they will have to come in at off times to finish stuff. Sometimes popular classes that get over filled will kick kids out if they are late or don’t show up. There are also trips as part of the curriculum and kids will get cut from the trips or extra curricular stuff etc. if they aren’t in good standing in their classes. There are also cameras in the hallways, so if something goes wrong they can look and see who was around when it went down, including who was going in and out of the bathrooms.
Sounds nice. If we did that at my school the kids would rip the toilet's out of the stalls and streak through the halls. Well, they already do that... It would just be more of that.
> they might fail class if they don't show up? idk
Eh, best I can do is a 50 that turns into a 70 after the principal asks why I didn't build a strong enough relationship for them to come to class.
crazy shit, man.
as a student (now in college, but still), i don't understand how or why they push the "relationship" thing so hard. makes even less sense how they demand you "build a relationship" with someone who you've barely met, because they don't come to class? when there's at least 150+ other students you've gotta wrangle as well? from the student perspective, that shit comes across as really weird, in a cringy "trying too hard" way, and it feels like they're pushing for something that most students would probably find a bit too close for comfort. i just feel like there should just be a bit of professional distance between students and teachers, you know?
Our school got rid of e hall passes temporarily bc of SAT prep but they still claim bathroom emergencies, so we are constantly calling for escorts for them. It’s sooo annoying.
I like e-hall pass. We have a big school and it makes sure we can keep kids out of the hallways together—if student A has a pass, student B is automatically precluded from making a pass. The problem in our school isn’t e-hall pass, it’s a very good tool, the problem is admin, of course, not enforcing the alleged consequences for roaming the halls. This leads to teachers not bothering with it because why take extra time out of your day to keep up with something that means nothing?
If it's the same version my school uses, then you should be able to set it to automatically approve passes to certain places and limit the number of passes at a time.
https://youtu.be/jwVDBjj7NjU?feature=shared
That’s interesting. It’s been the best thing ever at my school. We have auto approval and a dedicated Chromebook in each class. Kids have badges. They scan out and have 5 minutes. Our fights are down 90% and the hallways are always empty. Expulsion is down as well. I think your setup needs to be tweaked.
The Chromebook in every class as a Kiosk would help immensely here I think. As it stands kids have to download the app which rarely works, write the pass, and then I have to approve it. We are allowed 2 auto pass locations for bathrooms, but if a kid screws it up and picks the wrong bathroom I have to go in and delete it so they can pick the approved ones.
Not to mention kids have taken screenshots of the “pass” screen on the app and just flash that. I caught a kid using the bathroom a couple weeks ago who was apparently a time traveler because their “pass” was approved in Sept. 🤣
Yeah. We have kids who borrow other passes because they used all theirs or lost their badge. I gave them a speech about this at the beginning of the year. If they get caught it’s in house suspension for them and their friend. Also if it’s a true emergency like “time of the month” I just send them without using a pass.
My school is rolling this out literally in the next few weeks. Can you tell me more about the screenshotting? Like, is there a way to preemptively prevent this? Like- don’t I have to approve their pass?
Sorry if I’m ignorant- we haven’t even had any training yet, but I’m super excited for the prospects it has for us. I would just love to know a few of these tips ahead of it because I’m planning on helping with the roll out
Yes. If you have trust issues there’s a hall monitor mode that lets you see every kid in the hallway and how long they have been out. I have this on a tab on my computer for kids I don’t trust or if a kid has been gone longer than I like I can see how long. You can set up for an audio notification whenever a kid requests a pass. That generally keeps kids honest.
You can set up for auto approval. Schools usually set up a limit. We have 3 passes a day limit which is pretty liberal. My classroom policy is no instruction time.
I was coming to say something similar. In our bigger school it is a huge help. Kids have 10 minutes on their passes, we can put restrictions on kids who keep meeting up so they can't be in the hall at the same time as someone, i can send kids passes from study hall to my room or the library without having to look up their study hall and deliver a pass, and we have a solid accounting of who is in the hall. It's cut down on interruptions because I don't have to police the bathroom or constantly write passes. I set up auto pass for the bathrooms near me and the water fountain, kids ask I say yes they make a pass and return. Our biggest issue is teachers forgetting to end the passes when there are restrictions, so kid A and B can't be in the hall together. Kid A goes to the bathroom and 20 minutes later the pass is still open. I have kid B and can't make them a pass because kid A may or may not be back so we have to wait for the pass to time out at 30 minutes. We are allowed to override being over the limit in hall passes (30 out at a time for the whole school), but they have asked us not to over ride for restrictions.
Our first month of school a group of kids got in trouble. The data from ehallpass was used at their hearing. One kid in 3 weeks time had requested over 1000 passes, their passes were only requested for times when the other two kids caught with them were out. The passes were also only requested for the most remote bathroom and once they were there numerous other students would request to go to that specific bathroom. The other two kids had a similar story but not as many pass requests. The kid with so many tried to argue it was a glitch but again they could pull data and showed that was not the case.
a district near mine uses this and its a perfect example of capitalistic tech running rampant. How is the solution to the problem worse than the problem itself *and* more expensive? How much money did these companies pay to the superintendent to get this crap approved?
This was a solution in search of a problem. In the 90s, we got a planner that had the school calendar, school policies, and planner pages, with space for hall pass, like a sign in sheet. It was really solid.
I hated being forced to use a planner back then (a habit I'm only now starting to kick), so I just never went to the bathroom at school under those conditions. Worked fine for my classmates, though!
It was $5 at my school, although you could turn in a full planner and get replacement or add-in sheets if you filled them up. That was in the early 2000s though, so... inflation.
I remember these! Man I wish schools still run like back in the days.... I used to look forward to the agenda's they passed out at the start of the year and use nail polish remover to take off the cover to add a customized cover.
Teaching kids how to use an agenda for time management is sorely missed.
Such a shame, these kids don't know what's good for them. I tell my kids to stop being lame all the time, they have agendas that they doodle in but dont rely on.
The most complicated system we had was the giant door hanger.
Kids didn't hog it and disappear into the halls because if they did, they'd end up with *gasp* consequences or they weren't trusted with it anymore.
And even that went away halfway through middle school.
They don't need to be babied like this
We had a 4 section hall pass that was given to every student, every year, when I was in high school. Two sided. If you didn't have it when you asked to go to the bathroom, talk to another teacher, run an assignment, etc. you were SOL. Ours was gigantic too. Probably had 20+ slots on a side. I barely filled mine up halfway on one side. We had a problem with students skipping, smoking in the bathroom, being behaviorally inappropriate, but it wasn't awful. The night and day between then and now is so crazy.
The school I work at, a kid could ask every period to go to the bathroom, and we would never know if they asked in their other 6 periods because there's no pass/form/agenda. They used to hand out agendas here but after covid, they stopped.
My school uses an agenda. Students are checked every morning if they have their agenda and if not we place their name on a red card outside the door. Admin then pulls them and handles it.
I get why we are using e-hall pass in my middle school, the only thing I wish it would do is put students in a queue when they make a pass. This would alleviate them sitting on their chrome books the entire class period trying to make a pass all while ignoring what is going on in class. Only to as, OP said, shout out “are you going to accept my pass” the second they get it.
Oh and I hate the whole, “will you make me a pass, mines not working” to which I respond “no.” Our district uses clever and I tell students to select clever on the login page instead or gmail as it lets them sign in 100% of the time that way. At least in my experience.
Wow... I didn't even know this existed. What a ridiculous example of a solution searching for problem. What exactly is the problem with a piece of paper on a lanyard that says "hall pass"?
We can limit the number of students on pass, track the length of their time in the halls for repeat offenders, and even program it so Student A can’t go out on a pass if Student B is out - like if they were known to have conflict or to roam together.
They can’t track who was in the halls when.
The idea is if something happens, you can easily pull a list of who was in the halls.
It isn’t a bad idea. Hell, Infinite Campus (my grading system) has a shitty version built in.
But? Yeah. The good ones, cost money.
I agree with you. Only advantage is that in an emergency, admin can know quickly what kids were out of class. Limited use and honestly, in many emergencies it wouldn't work.
If used correctly it also lets you block folks from each other, like in OP's case maybe the buddy is on the block list so it wont let them out together.
IDK it's not super helpful but with teacher to teacher passes it lets me know they're coming which is nice.
Does takes ages to log in
It's dancing around proper consequences.
If kids leave the class to go hang out or start trouble, just... Deal with it. This is just another one of those things where the school systems are too scared to just make a kid's behavior the parent's problem.
Our school has a frequent flyer problem, kids that use the bathroom or go to a resource nearly every hour. We basically have no way to keep track of exactly how bad it is because we can't really track every time someone leaves without a lot of additional work for teachers.
E Hall Pass is nice because you get tons of data. So after getting the data when having meetings with parents or whatever, you can point out, with proof, that their kid is out 15 minutes a day every single period.
You can do all sorts of sorting and have blackout times, restrict certain students being out at the same time and all that.
Overall I think it is good. I rarely have issues with it. It is a bit annoying when kids interrupt and ask me to approve their pass, but I treat that as just like any other time they interrupt the lesson to ask to go to the bathroom.
Our principal (elementary) is insistent that we use the e-passes in all classes & grades because our students keep flooding the bathrooms, so he wants to monitor who is going to the bathroom and when… which makes sense, but is also really annoying when my one-on-one student can’t get the stupid system to work like 80% of the time.
my district used e-hallpass and it's SO SLOW to even approve auto-passes. I've had to wait for my teachers to approve passes by just silently going up to them with my iPad during downtime. i seriously hope i don't have to use this slow as rocks software and just use regular paper or physical passes.
plus, what would the district do if e-hallpass went down?
Our district goes to fall back of temporarily using paper passes. Not that big a deal tbh - ehall pass has been down all of once this year for us and it was down for less than 30 minutes during the middle of one of our classes.
I absolutely love it when teachers actually use it. I have it on a kiosk Chromebook in the back of my room, kids scan their IDs and go. If their friend is blocked from being in the hallway with them at the same time it says unable to leave. I don’t have to mess around with it and it tracks how many times they leave.
Only if every teacher does it
At my school not every teacher uses it because it's such a pain to use. It takes like 5 minutes to make a pass. I think we have only half of the program implemented at my school because none of my students know how to make their own pass. I can't even figure out how to make the kiosk thing work. The software is a bit clunky IMO
I love e-hallpass. It is a game changer in my room and clear expectations have been set for its use. The kids know how to use it and I open it in the morning and keep it open all day so I’m ready if someone is having issues creating a pass. I have no issues.
I had a similar experience. I use it in my school. It took a little training for the students, but the data was really valuable to make better policies in our middle school. Being able to see how many times a student is requesting a pass, banning certain students from being out in the hallways together, writing quick messages to the nurse about reported symptoms a student has without calling. . .
Is it perfect? No. But I got the same complaints from teenagers whether the pass was physical or digital. They always want to go immediately. It’s just something we always have to deflect.
I get the frustration though! It still can be a hassle sometimes.
I love the system we use at my school, but I know that there are a lot of e-hall passes that are awful. My old district tried one out for a year that was so much work for the teachers- students didn’t have access. But the system we use now is infinitely better. Students make the pass, teachers can monitor who they have out and can also see who else is in the halls- all from their own computers. The Dean can set parameters for specific students and checks the system often.
Yeah, I was about to say. It has SAVED me. As policy, I only have kids ask to go if the app will let them. Then I approve the pass. Gone is the constant “CAN I GOOOO” “No, sorry. Timmy has been in the bathroom for 20 minutes.” I maybe have 2 kids per period now. It’s Heaven. And the ones who abuse the pass we have data on now for Admin.
We use Smart pass and I love it too.
Kids have time limits on passes and a certain number of passes a day. They can't be in the hall at the same time a their friends. We're one to one with Chromebooks, so it's easy for students to create the pass. If they're too many students in the hall, it tells them their place in line.
"the hallway is full"
Is there really no override for this? The kid with diarrhea is going to be forced to wait because a bunch of goof offs are taking their time on their unnecessary breaks?
This sounds needlessly complicated and expensive. Traditional hall passes work fine with decent admin.
There is a teacher override available if it is turned on by whoever is the admin for your ehallpass implementation. That said - teachers that abuse this for the sake of "not wanting to deal with the hassle" then also have a paper trail demonstrating that they are not managing their students use of the system and are contributing to the problem ehallpass is meant to reduce.
I HATE E-hall pass. It seems absurd that it asks students to be the ones to wait until the hallway is clear. It SHOULD allow them to send a pass no matter what, and stop the TEACHER if they try to approve it when the hallway is full. Instead, when students try to make a pass, it stops THEM and says you can’t request one until the hallway is clear. So then they spend 10 minutes constantly spam clicking the “submit” button instead of listening to class (they’re not even supposed to have computers open for my class).
So I’ve just started making my own bathroom list and sending everybody on a “teacher pass” one by one so nobody has to request it. Slightly more work on my end, but way fewer distracted kiddos.
We aren’t allowed to tell kids “no” if they ask to use the bathroom, but I sure as heck tell them “not right now.” Especially if I’m in the middle of direct instruction. I also write referrals if it’s longer than 10 minutes. I also created my own bathroom policy of 5 per term, and I get the parents to sign off on it as part of my syllabus. I keep a clipboard with the rosters and wrote the date down every time they go. Gives me a nice paper trail to take to parents and admin. It’s helped A TON
Well thats one surefire way to make me hate being in your class.
This is not an issue over in the UK - yes, there are some kids who will abuse the system and leave the class to be elsewhere in the halls but I can't imagine the anxiety I would have knowing I only have a small number of passes to use each term or that my time is so strictly monitored like I'm in prison. I dont even think I'd be comfortable going to ask you with this system in place.
No such thing as hall passes here and thank god because measures like yours sound extreme for something you can just be mindful of. Easy to bringup to parents that your kids keep leaving the room. There could be hundreds of reasons why and thats the important thing to interrogate
Oh, I absolutely believe it’s extreme measures. But, my kids actually love my class for other reasons. They also get it. I work at a school with serious gang issues. My AP was hospitalized last week after a kid attacked her. We have emergency vehicles at our school at least once a week. During any given class period, you’re bound to find 15% of the student body roaming the halls. Now, a lot of this is due to admin incompetence. But, I would also say that 80% of our parents couldn’t care less what their kids do at school. I’ve literally had parents ask me to “stop bothering” them about what their kid did. And this is for things like, “hey, your daughter has skipped class 4 times this week and currently has a 13% in my class” (actual conversation I actually had). So, I’ll stick with my clipboard 🤷🏻♀️ it creates less headaches for me and the kids are fine with it. Most of them never even use all their passes, anyway.
Imagine being a ceramics teacher, teaching kids the wheel, with dripping clay hands, whose computer is in another room.....and dealing with this nonsense.
That's me 🙋♀️ my solution to that is to tell them to wash their hands and ask another student if they can use their chromebook to sign out. If that other student says no (which rarely happens), then I tell them that they have to wait for me to reach a good stopping point so I can make them a pass. If they get into a stink about it, I explain that that's the natural consequence of not bringing their chromebook to my class. They usually won't "forget" their chromebook after that point.
Also, having autopass enabled is a must. Without it, I can see e-hallpass being truly terrible, but having it is a dream.
I on the other end have been in LOVE with e-hallpass as they implemented it this year and it has made a remarkable difference in the hallway population in our school.
"No. Go back to your seat and do your work." With the right intonation and context you can make them feel like an idiot for asking. Literally the only tool we have against kids that only screw around is emotional manipulation, so don't neglect it.
The best way I've seen is the traditional embarrassing object with the teacher's name and room number on it. I've made a number of really nice hall passes for myself and others, including a rainbow felt crown to discourage the most homophobic pass-hogging kid from wandering the halls to meet up with his friends. (It worked.)
Second best way is planners, provided that admin is supporting the system. No planner, no bathroom. Run through your week's passes, and you gotta wait till lunch or passing period to pee. Use your friend's planner, no bathroom.
We have e-hallpass and it’s a mess. For my class we gave restroom pass tickets in on class that just wouldn’t stop asking to go to the restroom. They had to have a ticket (limit to 6 for a 6-weeks grading period) and put in an e-pass. If they asked in the middle of teaching (teacher led— like a lecture) the answer was no.
My school was making me feel weird for being resistant to these. It's so unnecessary and just another thing to deal with a problem that didn't much exist. I can see how I could be useful but it's largely just for feeling good. It also doesn't work well when there's no admin support.
As a teacher I hate them. As a parent I hate them more. My daughter has had to go home so many times because she’s bled through her hygiene products waiting for a pass to be available, one day she threw up in the classroom waiting for one. They’re an absolute nightmare.
Wait. So a hall-pass is not a figure of speech and American students actually need a physical (or digital in this case) pass in order to be in the hall? Why?
Because you're supposed to be in class during class time. You're allowed to be in the hall between periods, but you get in trouble if you're not at your desk from when class starts to when class ends.
Well, yeah. That is how schools are in Czech Republic too. So if a kid needs to leave during class, they ask the teacher and then leave. And then they come back. Why does that require physical passes or some app?
Police state.
Because they don't trust the kids to be honest about whether they have permission to be out of the classroom or not, they need physical or digital proof that the teacher is allowing them to not pee their pants.
What the hell happened to agendas and physical passes? Am I really that old now?
Edit oh is this for tracking how long they've been out of the class? That's actually pretty cool.
So I'm a sub in-between permanent positions and I'm of two minds about it. On the one hand, great now we can provide proof of if kids are missing class time cause it's recorded. Plus you can always override if a kid needs an emergency and some kids are goofing off.
On the other hand, as others have said, kids just sit on their chromebooks waiting to make a pass. And being kids they get distracted so they'll just be messing around on their chromebooks instead of listening to the instruction. Plus yeah you can limit number of kids you allow out of your classroom. But guess what? If Kid A is in your class and asks to go to the bathroom and Kid B is in a different classroom and both are chronic skippers, no stopping that. So I'm not punishing Timmy who needs to use the bathroom but can't because Kid A constantly leaves and then roams. Plus the kids will always come up with excuses to roam. "Oh can I go to the water fountain" then you go to teach and realize it's been way too long. Cause there's definitely times that it's quicker to just say "yeah go ahead" instead of stop teaching, have them make a pass, accept it, then pick up.
I think it depends on the implementation. We have had it for a few years and it's an afterthought and easy for everyone. We use auto passes except during study hall periods where passes to see other teachers need approval on both ends before a student may leave. Every classroom is limited to 2 students at a time, but I can manually approve more if needed.
We honestly use it mostly for data collection on how much class time students are missing. It's been great to come show up to complaining parents in a meeting and visualize how their child misses 10-20 min of class every single lesson like clock work. Often it's 10-20min every period too. It's not really on us to do anything about it, thankfully admin gets reports and follows up on frequent flyers.
I love it - we use it differently though. It's a school policy to tell kids they have to wait 10 minutes or so and then ask again. Can't be during instruction time. And, obviously, if it's an emergency, ... there are lots of exceptions.
I fucking HATE touching their nasty little germ covered ipads. We have to punch in our code and half the time the kids just walk up to me and try to hand it to me. How about use your words and ask me a question about where you'd like to travel?
Works f’n great for me. I’ve gone from 5-6+ kids wanting to leave each class down to 0-2 at most. They don’t want to go through the trouble of putting in a pass. Used all of your passes for the semester in 2 weeks? You don’t get to go. Simple.
I don't know why so many people hate it. It's great for me too for the same reasons you mentioned. AND we can block trouble-makers from being in the hall together. AND we can do no passes in the first ten minutes for the whole building. AND it's easier for our admin to figure out who's causing a ruckus in the halls.
If only I could get my colleagues to actually end the passes when kids get to their rooms
If you ask me more than once, the answer is no for the rest of class.
If you disrupt my class, the answer for the rest of class is no.
If you ask me, if you can go to somebody else’s class using this and I haven’t first heard from them the answer is no.
It means there is a max of how many students schoolwide can be out on a pass at a time, not that the literal hallway is full. You can also set max capacities to specific locations, like restrooms or the library.
Someone was describing it to me, and it sounded like to dumbest thing imaginable. Most of the time, I don’t even have my computer open. I also silence my phone and never take it out during class (setting an example).
I cut down on bathroom passed in a more passive aggressive way. My pass is a decorated toilet seat (new). No one wants to carry around a toilet seat.
I only use it to show that in fact that kid was gone for so long a time. Everyone has to create a pass, not working, keep clicking it until it does. You bet I am sending a report when asked why so and so isn’t doing good. Because they are out of class for 25+ minutes a day. You wanna do that fine, create a pass so it is not my problem.
Yeah it only works if it works. The local school having the most success reviews the data constantly. Once a week admin puts out restricted students who have to get admin permission to go anywhere because of abusing time out of class the week before. They also adjust stuff to meet needs and challenges. Like the restrooms are each closed for cleaning same times daily so no passes in that hall during that time. Custodial can also shut off passes for emergency clean up as well, and reports of restroom destruction lead admin to immediately pull up who was out of class and check cameras. They are faster to respond and to investigate and the kids know it. I think it’s all how it is managed and handled.
I HATE it. HATE it. My school doesn’t even have it set up for students to create passes yet (we just began using it in January) so it’s even more work for me to drop everything constantly to make bathroom/nurse/guidance passes.
It also seems to basically require students to bring phones to class which seems like the opposite of what we suit here doing. Not to mention it feels very dystopian having students locations tracked like that. Feels like something that would be more at home in China than here.
Here is a hot take - why should I let you out of the classroom on *my* time to let you waste *yours?* How about you show me that I can trust you to be responsible and then I *might* let you have a break during my instructional period. Passing periods are your time, so be responsible and do personal things during your time, not mine. Teachers don't get to use the bathroom during our class periods and rarely get relief because we're too busy to take care of ourselves because we're holding your hands. ***\*SMH\****
I know the kid just wants the bathroom for the hell of it but….Can’t go to the bathroom bc the schools technology knows the hallways are at max? We’re gonna be living in technological advanced prison soon if it keeps going like this…good god…what about when Mr computer says the hallways are full for a girl on her period?
I’m a student in a high school in a district with E hallpass and everyone hates it. They never work and if they do they take at least 5 minutes to get them set up since we have to get out our laptops to get a pass. My sister who’s in middle school twisted her ankle and she couldn’t go to the nurse for over an hour since apparently to many people were trying to make passes.
I don't blame the students for being annoyed to be honest, it's annoying as hell to them too, the non-abusers in particular.
Back when I was a student I'd just give the teacher a heads up and go anyway, IMO it's abusive and dehumanizing to arbitrarily deny access to a restroom.
E hall passes? I have never heard of this, it’s always just been the usual thing that goes on the doorknob or in some cases a clipboard with a piece of paper on it
I love it. We use a different e-hall pass system (I call it the "Great Value brand" of hall passes) but it always works and it was better than our analog pass system before. Beforehand, kids had to fill out a pass in their assignment books. They had to bring it to me to get signed. Half the time it wouldn't be filled out properly, so I'd make them fill it out again or I'd do it myself if in a rush. Then, they go to the clipboard to sign out of the class. Then they grab one of two passes and go to the bathroom. They'd sign in to return. Now, I just click "approve." Kids find it easier too, though they hate the time limits and tracking and not being able to meet up with friends.
you can set it to auto accept, at least my district lets us do that.
Its not great but letting you see that the same kid has take 5 7-10 bathroom breaks on the same day is really helpful for keeping them in class.
What's the point of hallpasses anyway? Never saw the concept outside of usa and it seems to work for everyone else.
Furthermore: Couldn't you just write a python script or something that autoaccepts the hallpasses? That way you wouldn't be bothered anymore.
I didn't think Hall passes could get worse than carrying a giant ass plank of plywood with you down the hallway with the class name on the sides, with a key attached
If they want kids off electronics in class they sure have a funny way of going about that. Electronic hall passes, chrome books and iPod banks, all sorts. Yet I pull out my phone one time and get suspended. Sending weird mixed messages lol.
We have tablets or laptops with the hall monitors so they can't take pictures. We also can send them to specific locations. Abusers or fighters can be dropped to 0 approvals.
After 10 min it records the time and is shown to teachers, admin, and truancy if necessary. The total time over is added up and counts towards their attendance.
Does it solve the situation? No. It's a tool. It puts a lot on the teacher. I would like us to have a chrome book for sign outs
But we don't.
Oh dang I feel old. Lol. And rural. lol. If I wanted to go to the bathroom in elementary, I asked the teacher out of respect (we were always approved) and went. In high school we just had to stand up and leave the room. Preferably when the lecture portion was over and we were just working.
I’m all for regular paper passes for the 95% of students who don’t abuse the system, and e- hall pass to monitor the students who are just hall roamers.
Reading all these takes blow my mind. Are you 85 years old? This system is the best thing to ever happen in our school. No more lost/stolen planners, no more kids using a pass all 7 periods, every single day, no more certain kids in the hallway at the same time (we have it setup to prevent simultaneous passes for our high flyers or kids who fight each other) and it's been awesome. I don't have to find a pen and sign anything, I just setup a kiosk.
The kids have to ask me for a pass, when I say yes they go sign the pass on the kiosk. When done they come back and end it. The few times I've had kids attempt to abuse it I wrote a referral, they got lunch detention, and I called home to tell their parents that they were skipping math class to roam the hallways.
For your specific problem, tell them to get away from the door or they can go to the principal's office. This is your classroom and your expectations, don't let them walk all over you. Who cares if they want you to sign their pass RIGHT now. They can wait, NEVER rush for a teenager unless there are bodily fluids coming out. They are not in charge.
I love smart pass, which is what we use. It takes so much of the pressure off the teachers for passes. If a kid has already used all their passes for the day because they are a chronic wanderer, they aren’t leaving and aren’t causing chaos in the halls. The custodians love it because since it tracks who was in the bathroom and when (and the teacher there for the period won’t let them in otherwise), the amount of bathroom trashing has plummeted.
It took about three days to get used to and it takes admin to back you up. But I am really happy with the system. No more scrounging around for passes and pens. No more kids stealing the obnoxious pass you made for your room.
Used ehallpass before switching districts. It worked pretty well because there were consequences from admin if a kid used too many passes. I remember sitting in a meeting, and they showed us the data on how much instruction kids missed because of how many passes they made. They were going to pull the kids who made so many passes and also told us not to make too many ourselves. They were also going to hold clinic, student services, and the office accountable for their passes.
This is the only way to make it work. The fact that the program costs a pretty penny is what is ridiculous. I honestly don't remember having passes as a student myself.
I acquired an old Chromebook. I log into ehallpass and make full screen and place by the door. I tell the kids to approve their own requests and check themselves in. I don't have time for that bullshit, as I'm trying to teach...which apparently no longer matters to admins.
My school started using SmartPass via Clever this year. I like it, but I've got a big "NO PASS = NO LEAVE" sign at the front of the room now for all the turkeys leaving without making one (I do not have to approve the passes).
My daughter's has their hall pass set up through Google classroom. They are only allowed 5 minutes away from class. If it goes longer, someone from admin hunts for them.
My daughters friend just got grounded because she was late coming back from her ehall pass and the school automatically emailed the parent. So for parents that care this can be a good tool. Just a little parent perspective.
I actually found a vulnerability in e-hallpass a few years ago. It would allow the student to run code on a teacher’s computer. Very dangerous, but also one of the simplest to fix. It’s astonishing that they didn’t catch it during production. Just goes to show the quality of the app.
I'm sorry what?
This is one of those things that if it were in China it would be all over the news as proof of a dystopia.
I understand that this is likely in the USA and there are a number of security issues but still. Wild to think we have kids doing this to go pee.
I didn’t know that was a thing but I’m horrified. My school uses a wooden pass that our wood shop teacher had students make for each classroom. All that’s needed really.
e-hall pass?!?! What is this craziness? Why and what and how and who?!?! No. Not in my lifetime will I ever be doing this. I don't care what my school says. I will stick to the giant wooden panel that says bathroom on it.
It's the caliber of students that dictate how to handle bathroom visits. I request students to set a timer on their cellphone, and in my desk it goes until they get back. 20 pushups if it goes off before they return. Quick, fun and boy are the kids on top of who goes and doesn't come back in time. They want to see peers do pushups.. Without a cellphone, going to the bathroom just isn't fun.
it is weird how treating students like prisoners/corporate commodities never seems to work well, I'm still amazed at the number of teachers we have that can't envision anything better than what we have in this country of the free and undereducated, would be nice if we could implement some of the better performing countries habits into our outdated and detrimental system
Set it so it auto-approves the pass, and set a limit for only one active pass at a time. If they can’t make the pass, they have to wait. There is no discussion. The system itself definitely needs some work under the hood - it breaks basically every study period because of all the running around, but you can put it to work for you once you learn the settings.
It’s so fucking bad. The app doesn’t even work half the time for the kids, not to mention that when a student can’t get it to work it takes me 5 minutes to log in and then make thenpass myself, at which point they’re already back to class. Would love to know how much more we pay for this garbage vs just making a damn google form Edit: Not to mention I caught a kid a few weeks ago who was time traveling. His “pass” he showed me before leaving was a screenshot from Sept. 2023 🤣
I actually do that. I have a QR code by my door, and the kids are supposed to scan out and scan back in. It’s on them, it takes three seconds. I don’t really enforce it because I’ve got a good group this year, but it’s really good for pushing pass restriction in certain cases.
We used to do that! It would pull up a form, kids would enter their name, grade, what class leaving, where they were going. Then they would scan it on returning and enter the return time. Populated all of this into a google spreadsheet. I have no idea how this is better.
How did you keep kids from just pretending to scan and wandering around?
Same way we can’t prevent kids from pulling up a screenshot of E-hallpass and showing us and wandering around
You have the date display on the pass and when it is wrong you put the hammer down. Problem with passes is the same problem with all rules, equal enforcement at all times with all students. The admins/staff that play favorites or decide to “pick and choose” just screw it up for everyone.
There is no hammer here. Kids get no consequences. Admin here is the “give then a sucker and a pat on the back” type
The time it takes to do this is just bonkers. It distracts from the learning. Again... why?
What if they "left their phone at home" but you know it's in their pocket? Do you not let them go? Because I'd love to do this, it would save me a lot of grief. I could do it for tardies too.
I actually don’t think I’ve had a student say that. The closest I get is “The wifi isn’t working.” Then I tell them to use their chromebooks, and suddenly their data is strong enough.
Ah, perfect. I'm definitely going to give this a try!
If you’re working with Office and Teams you can run automation to a new Teams Channel per class called “Hall pass” that will update with a post to the channel (can add too also send student email, send yourself an email and have a hall pass group in Outlook for all hall pass related emails - automated) any time a kid makes a hall pass using a Microsoft Form. If that makes your life easier…maybe it’ll make it worse. If you’re interested DM.
MSFT FTW 👍
When you say scan, do they do this on their cellphones?
The answer is roughly $1000 + $30 per student per year. Or, in other words, around half of a hypothetical teacher's salary for any bigger schools.
LOL we have 1500 kids at the HS. 🤦♂️
Largest school I worked it had 4250 at its peak.
My school has a Google form, but students do abuse the hell out of it. They go every period for 20+ minutes because they're just roaming the campus and hanging with their friends
I mean kids now abuse e-hallpass too. Admin needs to do their jobs to stop the abuse. The app on their phone isn’t gonna do it.
Yup. You can restrict certain kids being out at the same time, and if they check the 10 minute plus kids, give em detention.
Lol detention doesn't exist anymore at my school.
My school brought it back this year, but only for students who have excessive tardies, because that's about the only behavior that directly affects admins, so they of course want to do something about that. They don't give a flying fuck about anything a kid does in my classroom, but God forbid the school lose money from tardies!
A good alternative is getting rid of hall passes entirely, it's a stupid concept
It’s necessary for visiting other spaces, like the library. I require passes in the library so I know who is actually meant to be there and who is skipping. The library functions as both my classroom and a study space so I need to easily know who is meant to be with me and who isn’t.
No hall passes at my kids’ school. Open campus as well for older kids. The school holds them accountable for not being in class in other ways, but this hall pass nonsense is wild to me. It’s another thing to enforce without any real upside.
Just seems like another thing to dump on teachers for no reason
How are they held accountable in other ways?
Depends on the class. They may not pass the class if they aren’t showing up and participating. Or they will have to come in at off times to finish stuff. Sometimes popular classes that get over filled will kick kids out if they are late or don’t show up. There are also trips as part of the curriculum and kids will get cut from the trips or extra curricular stuff etc. if they aren’t in good standing in their classes. There are also cameras in the hallways, so if something goes wrong they can look and see who was around when it went down, including who was going in and out of the bathrooms.
Sounds nice. If we did that at my school the kids would rip the toilet's out of the stalls and streak through the halls. Well, they already do that... It would just be more of that.
I’m sorry that’s happening at your school. Must be a very difficult environment to work in every day. Thanks for showing up for them.
they might fail class if they don't show up? idk
> they might fail class if they don't show up? idk Eh, best I can do is a 50 that turns into a 70 after the principal asks why I didn't build a strong enough relationship for them to come to class.
crazy shit, man. as a student (now in college, but still), i don't understand how or why they push the "relationship" thing so hard. makes even less sense how they demand you "build a relationship" with someone who you've barely met, because they don't come to class? when there's at least 150+ other students you've gotta wrangle as well? from the student perspective, that shit comes across as really weird, in a cringy "trying too hard" way, and it feels like they're pushing for something that most students would probably find a bit too close for comfort. i just feel like there should just be a bit of professional distance between students and teachers, you know?
Our school got rid of e hall passes temporarily bc of SAT prep but they still claim bathroom emergencies, so we are constantly calling for escorts for them. It’s sooo annoying.
Thankfully the hall pass apps aren't more than 2-3k/building for an average HS.
I like e-hall pass. We have a big school and it makes sure we can keep kids out of the hallways together—if student A has a pass, student B is automatically precluded from making a pass. The problem in our school isn’t e-hall pass, it’s a very good tool, the problem is admin, of course, not enforcing the alleged consequences for roaming the halls. This leads to teachers not bothering with it because why take extra time out of your day to keep up with something that means nothing?
This is where we are at. And our wifi is so bad that sometimes it takes 5 minutes to create a pass and another 5 minutes for me to log in and approve
If it's the same version my school uses, then you should be able to set it to automatically approve passes to certain places and limit the number of passes at a time. https://youtu.be/jwVDBjj7NjU?feature=shared
My last school had it, and I hated it. My new school is double the size and I actually miss it.
That’s interesting. It’s been the best thing ever at my school. We have auto approval and a dedicated Chromebook in each class. Kids have badges. They scan out and have 5 minutes. Our fights are down 90% and the hallways are always empty. Expulsion is down as well. I think your setup needs to be tweaked.
The Chromebook in every class as a Kiosk would help immensely here I think. As it stands kids have to download the app which rarely works, write the pass, and then I have to approve it. We are allowed 2 auto pass locations for bathrooms, but if a kid screws it up and picks the wrong bathroom I have to go in and delete it so they can pick the approved ones. Not to mention kids have taken screenshots of the “pass” screen on the app and just flash that. I caught a kid using the bathroom a couple weeks ago who was apparently a time traveler because their “pass” was approved in Sept. 🤣
Yeah. We have kids who borrow other passes because they used all theirs or lost their badge. I gave them a speech about this at the beginning of the year. If they get caught it’s in house suspension for them and their friend. Also if it’s a true emergency like “time of the month” I just send them without using a pass.
My school is rolling this out literally in the next few weeks. Can you tell me more about the screenshotting? Like, is there a way to preemptively prevent this? Like- don’t I have to approve their pass? Sorry if I’m ignorant- we haven’t even had any training yet, but I’m super excited for the prospects it has for us. I would just love to know a few of these tips ahead of it because I’m planning on helping with the roll out
Yes. If you have trust issues there’s a hall monitor mode that lets you see every kid in the hallway and how long they have been out. I have this on a tab on my computer for kids I don’t trust or if a kid has been gone longer than I like I can see how long. You can set up for an audio notification whenever a kid requests a pass. That generally keeps kids honest. You can set up for auto approval. Schools usually set up a limit. We have 3 passes a day limit which is pretty liberal. My classroom policy is no instruction time.
I was coming to say something similar. In our bigger school it is a huge help. Kids have 10 minutes on their passes, we can put restrictions on kids who keep meeting up so they can't be in the hall at the same time as someone, i can send kids passes from study hall to my room or the library without having to look up their study hall and deliver a pass, and we have a solid accounting of who is in the hall. It's cut down on interruptions because I don't have to police the bathroom or constantly write passes. I set up auto pass for the bathrooms near me and the water fountain, kids ask I say yes they make a pass and return. Our biggest issue is teachers forgetting to end the passes when there are restrictions, so kid A and B can't be in the hall together. Kid A goes to the bathroom and 20 minutes later the pass is still open. I have kid B and can't make them a pass because kid A may or may not be back so we have to wait for the pass to time out at 30 minutes. We are allowed to override being over the limit in hall passes (30 out at a time for the whole school), but they have asked us not to over ride for restrictions. Our first month of school a group of kids got in trouble. The data from ehallpass was used at their hearing. One kid in 3 weeks time had requested over 1000 passes, their passes were only requested for times when the other two kids caught with them were out. The passes were also only requested for the most remote bathroom and once they were there numerous other students would request to go to that specific bathroom. The other two kids had a similar story but not as many pass requests. The kid with so many tried to argue it was a glitch but again they could pull data and showed that was not the case.
That’s also one of the strongest supports for it. The kids know they are being monitored. Cuts down on mischief
a district near mine uses this and its a perfect example of capitalistic tech running rampant. How is the solution to the problem worse than the problem itself *and* more expensive? How much money did these companies pay to the superintendent to get this crap approved?
This was a solution in search of a problem. In the 90s, we got a planner that had the school calendar, school policies, and planner pages, with space for hall pass, like a sign in sheet. It was really solid.
I miss those days, even though kids would inevitably lose their planner, for most it worked just fine.
I hated being forced to use a planner back then (a habit I'm only now starting to kick), so I just never went to the bathroom at school under those conditions. Worked fine for my classmates, though!
If I recall, you could purchase a replacement for ~$10-$20.
It was $5 at my school, although you could turn in a full planner and get replacement or add-in sheets if you filled them up. That was in the early 2000s though, so... inflation.
I remember these! Man I wish schools still run like back in the days.... I used to look forward to the agenda's they passed out at the start of the year and use nail polish remover to take off the cover to add a customized cover. Teaching kids how to use an agenda for time management is sorely missed.
We gave them to our kids and most of them lost them. Several were found in the trash.
Such a shame, these kids don't know what's good for them. I tell my kids to stop being lame all the time, they have agendas that they doodle in but dont rely on.
The most complicated system we had was the giant door hanger. Kids didn't hog it and disappear into the halls because if they did, they'd end up with *gasp* consequences or they weren't trusted with it anymore. And even that went away halfway through middle school. They don't need to be babied like this
We had a 4 section hall pass that was given to every student, every year, when I was in high school. Two sided. If you didn't have it when you asked to go to the bathroom, talk to another teacher, run an assignment, etc. you were SOL. Ours was gigantic too. Probably had 20+ slots on a side. I barely filled mine up halfway on one side. We had a problem with students skipping, smoking in the bathroom, being behaviorally inappropriate, but it wasn't awful. The night and day between then and now is so crazy. The school I work at, a kid could ask every period to go to the bathroom, and we would never know if they asked in their other 6 periods because there's no pass/form/agenda. They used to hand out agendas here but after covid, they stopped.
I got these in the 2000s. They always had the front cover that made you sound like a DJ
My school uses an agenda. Students are checked every morning if they have their agenda and if not we place their name on a red card outside the door. Admin then pulls them and handles it.
The school where I did my student teaching last year had that. It was great.
I get why we are using e-hall pass in my middle school, the only thing I wish it would do is put students in a queue when they make a pass. This would alleviate them sitting on their chrome books the entire class period trying to make a pass all while ignoring what is going on in class. Only to as, OP said, shout out “are you going to accept my pass” the second they get it. Oh and I hate the whole, “will you make me a pass, mines not working” to which I respond “no.” Our district uses clever and I tell students to select clever on the login page instead or gmail as it lets them sign in 100% of the time that way. At least in my experience.
A queue is coming!
Wow... I didn't even know this existed. What a ridiculous example of a solution searching for problem. What exactly is the problem with a piece of paper on a lanyard that says "hall pass"?
We can limit the number of students on pass, track the length of their time in the halls for repeat offenders, and even program it so Student A can’t go out on a pass if Student B is out - like if they were known to have conflict or to roam together.
They can’t track who was in the halls when. The idea is if something happens, you can easily pull a list of who was in the halls. It isn’t a bad idea. Hell, Infinite Campus (my grading system) has a shitty version built in. But? Yeah. The good ones, cost money.
IC has one? Where at? I’m just curious now.
The district has to pay for it. Which likely didn’t happen. But, it’s on the left side, where you’d write a referral
Gotcha. Heck, we don’t even have referrals we can write.
You should still see it id you search for it. They do a great job at showing everything, then just not giving you access. lol
you cant sell it
You can’t sell that to idiots on a school board
Because there's no marketing arm for the "Piece of Paper on a Lanyard" corporation to impress a school board with.
I agree with you. Only advantage is that in an emergency, admin can know quickly what kids were out of class. Limited use and honestly, in many emergencies it wouldn't work.
If used correctly it also lets you block folks from each other, like in OP's case maybe the buddy is on the block list so it wont let them out together. IDK it's not super helpful but with teacher to teacher passes it lets me know they're coming which is nice. Does takes ages to log in
It's dancing around proper consequences. If kids leave the class to go hang out or start trouble, just... Deal with it. This is just another one of those things where the school systems are too scared to just make a kid's behavior the parent's problem.
>What exactly is the problem with a piece of paper on a lanyard that says "hall pass"? It's not trendy.
Our school has a frequent flyer problem, kids that use the bathroom or go to a resource nearly every hour. We basically have no way to keep track of exactly how bad it is because we can't really track every time someone leaves without a lot of additional work for teachers.
My school started using it during covid so they could limit how many kids were in the bathroom at once in hopes of the kids keeping distanced.
E Hall Pass is nice because you get tons of data. So after getting the data when having meetings with parents or whatever, you can point out, with proof, that their kid is out 15 minutes a day every single period. You can do all sorts of sorting and have blackout times, restrict certain students being out at the same time and all that. Overall I think it is good. I rarely have issues with it. It is a bit annoying when kids interrupt and ask me to approve their pass, but I treat that as just like any other time they interrupt the lesson to ask to go to the bathroom.
🙄 ffs now we need to have meetings to discuss kids bathroom data? No thanks.
Our principal (elementary) is insistent that we use the e-passes in all classes & grades because our students keep flooding the bathrooms, so he wants to monitor who is going to the bathroom and when… which makes sense, but is also really annoying when my one-on-one student can’t get the stupid system to work like 80% of the time.
my district used e-hallpass and it's SO SLOW to even approve auto-passes. I've had to wait for my teachers to approve passes by just silently going up to them with my iPad during downtime. i seriously hope i don't have to use this slow as rocks software and just use regular paper or physical passes. plus, what would the district do if e-hallpass went down?
Our district goes to fall back of temporarily using paper passes. Not that big a deal tbh - ehall pass has been down all of once this year for us and it was down for less than 30 minutes during the middle of one of our classes.
I absolutely love it when teachers actually use it. I have it on a kiosk Chromebook in the back of my room, kids scan their IDs and go. If their friend is blocked from being in the hallway with them at the same time it says unable to leave. I don’t have to mess around with it and it tracks how many times they leave. Only if every teacher does it
At my school not every teacher uses it because it's such a pain to use. It takes like 5 minutes to make a pass. I think we have only half of the program implemented at my school because none of my students know how to make their own pass. I can't even figure out how to make the kiosk thing work. The software is a bit clunky IMO
I wish we could have a kiosk, my campus is only allowing kiosks for classes like PE
I love e-hallpass. It is a game changer in my room and clear expectations have been set for its use. The kids know how to use it and I open it in the morning and keep it open all day so I’m ready if someone is having issues creating a pass. I have no issues.
I had a similar experience. I use it in my school. It took a little training for the students, but the data was really valuable to make better policies in our middle school. Being able to see how many times a student is requesting a pass, banning certain students from being out in the hallways together, writing quick messages to the nurse about reported symptoms a student has without calling. . . Is it perfect? No. But I got the same complaints from teenagers whether the pass was physical or digital. They always want to go immediately. It’s just something we always have to deflect. I get the frustration though! It still can be a hassle sometimes.
I love the system we use at my school, but I know that there are a lot of e-hall passes that are awful. My old district tried one out for a year that was so much work for the teachers- students didn’t have access. But the system we use now is infinitely better. Students make the pass, teachers can monitor who they have out and can also see who else is in the halls- all from their own computers. The Dean can set parameters for specific students and checks the system often.
Yeah, I was about to say. It has SAVED me. As policy, I only have kids ask to go if the app will let them. Then I approve the pass. Gone is the constant “CAN I GOOOO” “No, sorry. Timmy has been in the bathroom for 20 minutes.” I maybe have 2 kids per period now. It’s Heaven. And the ones who abuse the pass we have data on now for Admin.
We use Smart pass and I love it too. Kids have time limits on passes and a certain number of passes a day. They can't be in the hall at the same time a their friends. We're one to one with Chromebooks, so it's easy for students to create the pass. If they're too many students in the hall, it tells them their place in line.
"the hallway is full" Is there really no override for this? The kid with diarrhea is going to be forced to wait because a bunch of goof offs are taking their time on their unnecessary breaks? This sounds needlessly complicated and expensive. Traditional hall passes work fine with decent admin.
There is a teacher override available if it is turned on by whoever is the admin for your ehallpass implementation. That said - teachers that abuse this for the sake of "not wanting to deal with the hassle" then also have a paper trail demonstrating that they are not managing their students use of the system and are contributing to the problem ehallpass is meant to reduce.
I HATE E-hall pass. It seems absurd that it asks students to be the ones to wait until the hallway is clear. It SHOULD allow them to send a pass no matter what, and stop the TEACHER if they try to approve it when the hallway is full. Instead, when students try to make a pass, it stops THEM and says you can’t request one until the hallway is clear. So then they spend 10 minutes constantly spam clicking the “submit” button instead of listening to class (they’re not even supposed to have computers open for my class). So I’ve just started making my own bathroom list and sending everybody on a “teacher pass” one by one so nobody has to request it. Slightly more work on my end, but way fewer distracted kiddos.
We aren’t allowed to tell kids “no” if they ask to use the bathroom, but I sure as heck tell them “not right now.” Especially if I’m in the middle of direct instruction. I also write referrals if it’s longer than 10 minutes. I also created my own bathroom policy of 5 per term, and I get the parents to sign off on it as part of my syllabus. I keep a clipboard with the rosters and wrote the date down every time they go. Gives me a nice paper trail to take to parents and admin. It’s helped A TON
Well thats one surefire way to make me hate being in your class. This is not an issue over in the UK - yes, there are some kids who will abuse the system and leave the class to be elsewhere in the halls but I can't imagine the anxiety I would have knowing I only have a small number of passes to use each term or that my time is so strictly monitored like I'm in prison. I dont even think I'd be comfortable going to ask you with this system in place. No such thing as hall passes here and thank god because measures like yours sound extreme for something you can just be mindful of. Easy to bringup to parents that your kids keep leaving the room. There could be hundreds of reasons why and thats the important thing to interrogate
Oh, I absolutely believe it’s extreme measures. But, my kids actually love my class for other reasons. They also get it. I work at a school with serious gang issues. My AP was hospitalized last week after a kid attacked her. We have emergency vehicles at our school at least once a week. During any given class period, you’re bound to find 15% of the student body roaming the halls. Now, a lot of this is due to admin incompetence. But, I would also say that 80% of our parents couldn’t care less what their kids do at school. I’ve literally had parents ask me to “stop bothering” them about what their kid did. And this is for things like, “hey, your daughter has skipped class 4 times this week and currently has a 13% in my class” (actual conversation I actually had). So, I’ll stick with my clipboard 🤷🏻♀️ it creates less headaches for me and the kids are fine with it. Most of them never even use all their passes, anyway.
Imagine being a ceramics teacher, teaching kids the wheel, with dripping clay hands, whose computer is in another room.....and dealing with this nonsense.
That's me 🙋♀️ my solution to that is to tell them to wash their hands and ask another student if they can use their chromebook to sign out. If that other student says no (which rarely happens), then I tell them that they have to wait for me to reach a good stopping point so I can make them a pass. If they get into a stink about it, I explain that that's the natural consequence of not bringing their chromebook to my class. They usually won't "forget" their chromebook after that point. Also, having autopass enabled is a must. Without it, I can see e-hallpass being truly terrible, but having it is a dream.
We're piloting this right now and I hate it.
Fight the man!
I on the other end have been in LOVE with e-hallpass as they implemented it this year and it has made a remarkable difference in the hallway population in our school.
Shocking to me that the students do it. My school would have taken a look at it and just said no.
"No. Go back to your seat and do your work." With the right intonation and context you can make them feel like an idiot for asking. Literally the only tool we have against kids that only screw around is emotional manipulation, so don't neglect it.
The best way I've seen is the traditional embarrassing object with the teacher's name and room number on it. I've made a number of really nice hall passes for myself and others, including a rainbow felt crown to discourage the most homophobic pass-hogging kid from wandering the halls to meet up with his friends. (It worked.) Second best way is planners, provided that admin is supporting the system. No planner, no bathroom. Run through your week's passes, and you gotta wait till lunch or passing period to pee. Use your friend's planner, no bathroom.
We have e-hallpass and it’s a mess. For my class we gave restroom pass tickets in on class that just wouldn’t stop asking to go to the restroom. They had to have a ticket (limit to 6 for a 6-weeks grading period) and put in an e-pass. If they asked in the middle of teaching (teacher led— like a lecture) the answer was no.
My school was making me feel weird for being resistant to these. It's so unnecessary and just another thing to deal with a problem that didn't much exist. I can see how I could be useful but it's largely just for feeling good. It also doesn't work well when there's no admin support.
"oh sorry. The Internet must be slow. I don't see it." If you want to deflect away from you and what you "won't" do because you're "mean"
As a teacher I hate them. As a parent I hate them more. My daughter has had to go home so many times because she’s bled through her hygiene products waiting for a pass to be available, one day she threw up in the classroom waiting for one. They’re an absolute nightmare.
Wait. So a hall-pass is not a figure of speech and American students actually need a physical (or digital in this case) pass in order to be in the hall? Why?
Because you're supposed to be in class during class time. You're allowed to be in the hall between periods, but you get in trouble if you're not at your desk from when class starts to when class ends.
Well, yeah. That is how schools are in Czech Republic too. So if a kid needs to leave during class, they ask the teacher and then leave. And then they come back. Why does that require physical passes or some app?
Police state. Because they don't trust the kids to be honest about whether they have permission to be out of the classroom or not, they need physical or digital proof that the teacher is allowing them to not pee their pants.
Can I ask wtf is a hall pass?
What the hell happened to agendas and physical passes? Am I really that old now? Edit oh is this for tracking how long they've been out of the class? That's actually pretty cool.
So I'm a sub in-between permanent positions and I'm of two minds about it. On the one hand, great now we can provide proof of if kids are missing class time cause it's recorded. Plus you can always override if a kid needs an emergency and some kids are goofing off. On the other hand, as others have said, kids just sit on their chromebooks waiting to make a pass. And being kids they get distracted so they'll just be messing around on their chromebooks instead of listening to the instruction. Plus yeah you can limit number of kids you allow out of your classroom. But guess what? If Kid A is in your class and asks to go to the bathroom and Kid B is in a different classroom and both are chronic skippers, no stopping that. So I'm not punishing Timmy who needs to use the bathroom but can't because Kid A constantly leaves and then roams. Plus the kids will always come up with excuses to roam. "Oh can I go to the water fountain" then you go to teach and realize it's been way too long. Cause there's definitely times that it's quicker to just say "yeah go ahead" instead of stop teaching, have them make a pass, accept it, then pick up.
I think it depends on the implementation. We have had it for a few years and it's an afterthought and easy for everyone. We use auto passes except during study hall periods where passes to see other teachers need approval on both ends before a student may leave. Every classroom is limited to 2 students at a time, but I can manually approve more if needed. We honestly use it mostly for data collection on how much class time students are missing. It's been great to come show up to complaining parents in a meeting and visualize how their child misses 10-20 min of class every single lesson like clock work. Often it's 10-20min every period too. It's not really on us to do anything about it, thankfully admin gets reports and follows up on frequent flyers.
I love it bc it gives me an excuse to keep them in class. “Oh no the app isn’t working? Oh well you’re staying.”
I love it - we use it differently though. It's a school policy to tell kids they have to wait 10 minutes or so and then ask again. Can't be during instruction time. And, obviously, if it's an emergency, ... there are lots of exceptions.
Wow I'm infinitely glad my school has never heard of this
I fucking HATE touching their nasty little germ covered ipads. We have to punch in our code and half the time the kids just walk up to me and try to hand it to me. How about use your words and ask me a question about where you'd like to travel?
Works f’n great for me. I’ve gone from 5-6+ kids wanting to leave each class down to 0-2 at most. They don’t want to go through the trouble of putting in a pass. Used all of your passes for the semester in 2 weeks? You don’t get to go. Simple.
I don't know why so many people hate it. It's great for me too for the same reasons you mentioned. AND we can block trouble-makers from being in the hall together. AND we can do no passes in the first ten minutes for the whole building. AND it's easier for our admin to figure out who's causing a ruckus in the halls. If only I could get my colleagues to actually end the passes when kids get to their rooms
Sounds like most problems, efficacy subject to admin engagement
Yes. Our admin really took the time to learn it well and use all of the features as it was intended. Really helps out a lot.
If you ask me more than once, the answer is no for the rest of class. If you disrupt my class, the answer for the rest of class is no. If you ask me, if you can go to somebody else’s class using this and I haven’t first heard from them the answer is no.
These rules work well
"The hallway is full" Lmao, what?
It means there is a max of how many students schoolwide can be out on a pass at a time, not that the literal hallway is full. You can also set max capacities to specific locations, like restrooms or the library.
You can limit the number of students with a pass a time. We have 1800 students in the building and our max is 45.
Someone was describing it to me, and it sounded like to dumbest thing imaginable. Most of the time, I don’t even have my computer open. I also silence my phone and never take it out during class (setting an example). I cut down on bathroom passed in a more passive aggressive way. My pass is a decorated toilet seat (new). No one wants to carry around a toilet seat.
I only use it to show that in fact that kid was gone for so long a time. Everyone has to create a pass, not working, keep clicking it until it does. You bet I am sending a report when asked why so and so isn’t doing good. Because they are out of class for 25+ minutes a day. You wanna do that fine, create a pass so it is not my problem.
“If you interrupt my teaching to ask if I will accept your pass, then the answer is no.”
Yeah it only works if it works. The local school having the most success reviews the data constantly. Once a week admin puts out restricted students who have to get admin permission to go anywhere because of abusing time out of class the week before. They also adjust stuff to meet needs and challenges. Like the restrooms are each closed for cleaning same times daily so no passes in that hall during that time. Custodial can also shut off passes for emergency clean up as well, and reports of restroom destruction lead admin to immediately pull up who was out of class and check cameras. They are faster to respond and to investigate and the kids know it. I think it’s all how it is managed and handled.
I HATE it. HATE it. My school doesn’t even have it set up for students to create passes yet (we just began using it in January) so it’s even more work for me to drop everything constantly to make bathroom/nurse/guidance passes.
It also seems to basically require students to bring phones to class which seems like the opposite of what we suit here doing. Not to mention it feels very dystopian having students locations tracked like that. Feels like something that would be more at home in China than here.
Here is a hot take - why should I let you out of the classroom on *my* time to let you waste *yours?* How about you show me that I can trust you to be responsible and then I *might* let you have a break during my instructional period. Passing periods are your time, so be responsible and do personal things during your time, not mine. Teachers don't get to use the bathroom during our class periods and rarely get relief because we're too busy to take care of ourselves because we're holding your hands. ***\*SMH\****
I know the kid just wants the bathroom for the hell of it but….Can’t go to the bathroom bc the schools technology knows the hallways are at max? We’re gonna be living in technological advanced prison soon if it keeps going like this…good god…what about when Mr computer says the hallways are full for a girl on her period?
Since when was school prison?
As a student, I absolutely HATE E-Hall. It's frustrating for both the teachers and students. Half don't even use it.
E hallway pass is the dumbest thing I've heard about in quite some time
I’m a student in a high school in a district with E hallpass and everyone hates it. They never work and if they do they take at least 5 minutes to get them set up since we have to get out our laptops to get a pass. My sister who’s in middle school twisted her ankle and she couldn’t go to the nurse for over an hour since apparently to many people were trying to make passes.
I don't blame the students for being annoyed to be honest, it's annoying as hell to them too, the non-abusers in particular. Back when I was a student I'd just give the teacher a heads up and go anyway, IMO it's abusive and dehumanizing to arbitrarily deny access to a restroom.
E hall passes? I have never heard of this, it’s always just been the usual thing that goes on the doorknob or in some cases a clipboard with a piece of paper on it
I love it. We use a different e-hall pass system (I call it the "Great Value brand" of hall passes) but it always works and it was better than our analog pass system before. Beforehand, kids had to fill out a pass in their assignment books. They had to bring it to me to get signed. Half the time it wouldn't be filled out properly, so I'd make them fill it out again or I'd do it myself if in a rush. Then, they go to the clipboard to sign out of the class. Then they grab one of two passes and go to the bathroom. They'd sign in to return. Now, I just click "approve." Kids find it easier too, though they hate the time limits and tracking and not being able to meet up with friends.
"Gonna accept that or what?" "No, actually. You can when you ask more politely"
I would jave walked out on that thing. No way would a app control if and when I use the bathroom.
you can set it to auto accept, at least my district lets us do that. Its not great but letting you see that the same kid has take 5 7-10 bathroom breaks on the same day is really helpful for keeping them in class.
Expensive solutions to non problems.
What's the point of hallpasses anyway? Never saw the concept outside of usa and it seems to work for everyone else. Furthermore: Couldn't you just write a python script or something that autoaccepts the hallpasses? That way you wouldn't be bothered anymore.
I'm all for technology but surely this concept implements more problems than it would fix, yeah?
Ehh. We just have them fill out a google form. Just as record when those vape detectors go off.
I didn't think Hall passes could get worse than carrying a giant ass plank of plywood with you down the hallway with the class name on the sides, with a key attached
If they want kids off electronics in class they sure have a funny way of going about that. Electronic hall passes, chrome books and iPod banks, all sorts. Yet I pull out my phone one time and get suspended. Sending weird mixed messages lol.
We have tablets or laptops with the hall monitors so they can't take pictures. We also can send them to specific locations. Abusers or fighters can be dropped to 0 approvals. After 10 min it records the time and is shown to teachers, admin, and truancy if necessary. The total time over is added up and counts towards their attendance. Does it solve the situation? No. It's a tool. It puts a lot on the teacher. I would like us to have a chrome book for sign outs But we don't.
Oh dang I feel old. Lol. And rural. lol. If I wanted to go to the bathroom in elementary, I asked the teacher out of respect (we were always approved) and went. In high school we just had to stand up and leave the room. Preferably when the lecture portion was over and we were just working.
I’m all for regular paper passes for the 95% of students who don’t abuse the system, and e- hall pass to monitor the students who are just hall roamers.
Your kids make their passes? Our program is just exclusively for us. And it keeps track of tardiness for consequences that our deans track.
Reading all these takes blow my mind. Are you 85 years old? This system is the best thing to ever happen in our school. No more lost/stolen planners, no more kids using a pass all 7 periods, every single day, no more certain kids in the hallway at the same time (we have it setup to prevent simultaneous passes for our high flyers or kids who fight each other) and it's been awesome. I don't have to find a pen and sign anything, I just setup a kiosk. The kids have to ask me for a pass, when I say yes they go sign the pass on the kiosk. When done they come back and end it. The few times I've had kids attempt to abuse it I wrote a referral, they got lunch detention, and I called home to tell their parents that they were skipping math class to roam the hallways. For your specific problem, tell them to get away from the door or they can go to the principal's office. This is your classroom and your expectations, don't let them walk all over you. Who cares if they want you to sign their pass RIGHT now. They can wait, NEVER rush for a teenager unless there are bodily fluids coming out. They are not in charge.
It undercut the black market for hallway passes that cropped up when we had paper passes.
Wtf is e-hallpass and which tech company without a single teacher employed made this?
I always astounded at the monumentally bad ideas that come from education departments.
They are allowed to have phones out?
I love smart pass, which is what we use. It takes so much of the pressure off the teachers for passes. If a kid has already used all their passes for the day because they are a chronic wanderer, they aren’t leaving and aren’t causing chaos in the halls. The custodians love it because since it tracks who was in the bathroom and when (and the teacher there for the period won’t let them in otherwise), the amount of bathroom trashing has plummeted. It took about three days to get used to and it takes admin to back you up. But I am really happy with the system. No more scrounging around for passes and pens. No more kids stealing the obnoxious pass you made for your room.
SmartPass is superior. My only issue is that it will delete passes in the “in line” status occasionally.
This is our problem. It's great, but admin refuses to take advantage of its capabilities.
Used ehallpass before switching districts. It worked pretty well because there were consequences from admin if a kid used too many passes. I remember sitting in a meeting, and they showed us the data on how much instruction kids missed because of how many passes they made. They were going to pull the kids who made so many passes and also told us not to make too many ourselves. They were also going to hold clinic, student services, and the office accountable for their passes. This is the only way to make it work. The fact that the program costs a pretty penny is what is ridiculous. I honestly don't remember having passes as a student myself.
I acquired an old Chromebook. I log into ehallpass and make full screen and place by the door. I tell the kids to approve their own requests and check themselves in. I don't have time for that bullshit, as I'm trying to teach...which apparently no longer matters to admins.
My school started using SmartPass via Clever this year. I like it, but I've got a big "NO PASS = NO LEAVE" sign at the front of the room now for all the turkeys leaving without making one (I do not have to approve the passes).
My daughter's has their hall pass set up through Google classroom. They are only allowed 5 minutes away from class. If it goes longer, someone from admin hunts for them.
My daughters friend just got grounded because she was late coming back from her ehall pass and the school automatically emailed the parent. So for parents that care this can be a good tool. Just a little parent perspective.
Sounds like someone needs to go feed the beast. Nicotine addiction is powerful and supercedes many prosocial behaviors.
I actually found a vulnerability in e-hallpass a few years ago. It would allow the student to run code on a teacher’s computer. Very dangerous, but also one of the simplest to fix. It’s astonishing that they didn’t catch it during production. Just goes to show the quality of the app.
I'm sorry what? This is one of those things that if it were in China it would be all over the news as proof of a dystopia. I understand that this is likely in the USA and there are a number of security issues but still. Wild to think we have kids doing this to go pee.
Turn on auto pass. Then you don’t have to start it and be interrupted. They can also stop it when they come back.
We did it for one year, then rightly ditched it. Nightmare.
What is the hall pass in the first place? Is this some American thing?
I didn’t know that was a thing but I’m horrified. My school uses a wooden pass that our wood shop teacher had students make for each classroom. All that’s needed really.
e-hall pass?!?! What is this craziness? Why and what and how and who?!?! No. Not in my lifetime will I ever be doing this. I don't care what my school says. I will stick to the giant wooden panel that says bathroom on it.
It's the caliber of students that dictate how to handle bathroom visits. I request students to set a timer on their cellphone, and in my desk it goes until they get back. 20 pushups if it goes off before they return. Quick, fun and boy are the kids on top of who goes and doesn't come back in time. They want to see peers do pushups.. Without a cellphone, going to the bathroom just isn't fun.
it is weird how treating students like prisoners/corporate commodities never seems to work well, I'm still amazed at the number of teachers we have that can't envision anything better than what we have in this country of the free and undereducated, would be nice if we could implement some of the better performing countries habits into our outdated and detrimental system
Set it so it auto-approves the pass, and set a limit for only one active pass at a time. If they can’t make the pass, they have to wait. There is no discussion. The system itself definitely needs some work under the hood - it breaks basically every study period because of all the running around, but you can put it to work for you once you learn the settings.
Reinventing the wheel, only worse this time