E-hallpass is a new system that was implemented directly after the Freshman assembly to improve security and keep track of students. Mountain View High School has been using it for the past few years, and it seems to work effectively. 

“It’s easier because you can make the pass, and just go and I can see and you don’t have to interrupt the instruction at all.” said French teacher Ms. Krysta Goodwin. “But the tricky thing about it is that you don’t always need to have your Chromebook out in class, so when you want to go to the bathroom now, you have to kind of stop what you’re doing, go get your Chromebook, get logged in, and then create the pass and go. In some cases it’s actually taking you more time out of class.” 

The implementation of e-hallpass has impacted on the jobs of the people on security, as it now lets them keep track of  students’ locations.

“It allows us to know where the students are and what part of the building they’re in, so we can go to those spots if we need to look for them.” said Mr. Antonio Howard, a security officer. “I like the idea that they have the e-hallpass. I don’t really like the idea that kids take advantage of the length of time they can be out in the hallway. I think we’ve cut it to five minutes per outing,”  

Because students don’t need to carry around physical passes, e-hallpass actually helps with sanitation.

 “We can also contact trace using e-hallpass, so if there is a case of COVID in our building, we can find the students who may have crossed paths with them and notify them,” said Ms. Sarah Conley, the Instructional Technology Resource Teacher, who was in charge of training and installing e-hallpass.

However, not everybody agrees that e-hallpass is a necessary addition to our community.

“I honestly don’t really find it useful, considering the fact that I know that a lot of people say that they log in and out of it, but half the time they don’t and they just walk out,” AJ Sumners (‘22) said. “(E-hallpass) pretty much just puts more of a tracker system on students.”

Soon, updated student photos will be added to e-hallpass to further help with security.  

“That’ll make it even easier to identify people in the halls, and just keep the school more secure,” said Ms. Conley. “There’s still some growing we’re gonna have to do, and I know that it’s not perfect yet, which nothing ever really is, but I’m hoping with another year or two students we get more used to it, teachers get more used to it, and hopefully it’ll be a long term benefit to the school.”