E-Hallpass has stirred up controversy since its introduction on whether it truly does invade our privacy or if it is a useful tool to have around school. This was introduced 2 years ago to FCPS Middle and High Schools. Designed for traveling in the building easier, there have been mixed opinions on whether the pass is truly making it more convenient.
It’s featured on every student’s laptop that they must use when leaving the classroom, including to go to the bathroom, water fountain, and main office. When filling out your pass, you have to put your destination and departure. You have to get your teacher to approve your pass, and when they do, the timer will start. The timer can only end when the teacher stops it. We interviewed a teacher and a student about their thoughts on E-Hallpass.
Ms. Kiesler, an English and Film Studies Teacher, said: “At first, when we started using it, I really didn’t like it, I feel like it was really disruptive to me because I had to stop teaching to stop or accept a pass, disruptive to the students because they had to pull their laptop out when we weren’t using laptops, so I felt kind of frustrated about it. I think it’s been helpful schoolwide. I think we used to have a lot of people wandering the halls and I do think that has reduced because of E-Hallpass, so I definitely see the benefits.” However, she says it has caused inconvenience to herself and her students, as she admitted it can be difficult to remember to start and end passes, and said “[She] handles it, but it can be tough sometimes.”
Although having its downsides, she stated: “I do prefer it because when I had to write down passes, I think writing it took more of my time so, yeah, I guess I do prefer E-Hallpass now that I think about it.”
The second person we interviewed is Freshman, Caiden Williams. E-Hallpass was introduced to FCPS while she was finishing up 7th grade. Williams said, “I think it’s stupid. It’s unhandy, for example, if you forget your computer in a different class you can’t make an E-Hallpass.” When asked if she prefers E-Hallpass, or the prior passes, paper passes, she said she definitely preferred the paper passes.
When conducting a survey on whether high school students like E-Hallpass, 85% stated that they did not like E-Hallpass and that they had an inconvenience using it.
After the interviews and surveys, it became clear that students and teachers have contrasting opinions on E-Hallpass. The majority of students seem to think it is unnecessary and causes problems, rather than solve them, versus teachers, who seem to think that it may seem difficult on the outside, it takes time to realize it helps the school.
