In the 2022-2023 school year, Bonita Vista High (BVH) implemented the usage of E-Hall passes (EHP). The digital hall passes were introduced as a way to monitor how often and how long students leave the classroom, and to limit the amount of students outside of the classroom.

The school wifi issues at the time of implementation caused problems with the initial rollout of the EHP. As wifi issues continued to occur teachers began to loosen use of the hall passes and forget to assign passes out to students. 

“I think [BVH] as administrators and as staff, started using it. However, we had issues with the Wi-Fi and then some teachers stopped using [EHP]. I myself don’t use it as often as I should,” Integrated math, Compacted and Integrated Math 2 teacher Cesar Gaitan said.

As stated by the official E-Hall Pass website the EHP allows for schools to “modernize and simplify current outdated methods of managing student passes and tracking student movement during school hours throughout the day.”

After a vote was held in the 2021-2022 school year, the majority of BVH staff agreed that BVH should implement a new system for hall passes. BVH teachers were then trained to use the hall pass.  

“The [BVH] staff learned about E-Hall pass right after the pandemic, and its first implementation, we had training and that’s when we learned about it,” English 9 Accelerated and Advanced Placement (AP) Language teacher Nikki Monfredo said.“We talked about [EHP] in a meeting [and learned] that [training]was gonna happen so then we implemented the passes.”

Prior to the implementation of EHP, multiple concerns arose as BVH staff noticed many students were spending considerable time away from the classroom. Evidently, this hurt teachers’ ability to teach and students’ time to learn.

“Initially [the passes were] for school safety and monitoring students’ use of the bathroom which had become problematic. [There used to be a lot of time] students were spending away from the classroom,” Gaitan said. 

Yes/No: Are E-hall passes effective in the classroom?

Peculiar Passes

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As the second semester of the 2022-2023 school year began the EHP wasn’t as efficient as deemed to be. Bruann explains that another issue originating from EHP is students going in and creating a pass for teachers approval. He explains that in many instances, teachers find themselves creating the passes.                                          

“If the E-Hall pass is meant to work, the student has to take the initiative and fill out the pass themselves. I find myself filling out many of the passes because my students say they can’t do it themselves,” Beginning art, advanced art and AP drawing teacher Nicolas Braunn said. 

Though BVH teachers have not continuously found themselves using the hall pass system due to technical complications and the sign-in process, some teachers feel the EHP was an important step for BVH. It ensured students’ safety and productivity in the classroom. 

“At least, there is now a way to know relatively the whereabouts of students and how long they are spending time in and out of my class,” Braunn said.

The future of EHP at BVH is currently unsure, as there isn’t 0 percent nor 100 percent use of the system. The method will have to be in continuous use to reveal if it is making a difference on campus. Though it can be a cumbersome process, the policy is still in effect today.

“I’m not sure if it’ll stick around this year, I’ll use it as long as the administration wants me to use it. I’m not sure how well it is working, [but] I think it’ll stick around for the foreseeable future,” Monfredo said.