Before e-hallpass [now known as “securlypass”] was implemented throughout FCPS, students simply had to ask a teacher for permission for bathroom use. Some students took advantage of their bathroom time and would either take longer than necessary to come back to class or not come back at all. So in 2023, FCPS implemented the e-hallpass system.

In order to use e-hallpass, students must get on a laptop and enter a destination to go and one from where they are coming. For bathroom use, you need to enter the color code of the bathroom nearest your class to prevent students from taking advantage of the bathroom pass.

Senior Xavier Pineda Valladares clearly isn’t a fan of the app’s features. “Filling up the hall pass is annoying. The bathroom is literally outside. Why go through the trouble to get on a computer to go to a location that’s near? Sometimes [the destination is] not just the bathroom; it’s basically any place we want or have to go,” Pineda said.

Pineda Valladares finds it annoying to be so dependent on a laptop to leave the classroom. “Sometimes my laptop is dead so I can’t put a pass. But teachers will make me use their laptops or other student’s. It’s just really annoying that we can just ask to go,” Pineda said.

Entering a pass is a pain. E-hallpass allows you to personalize your login with your eight teachers and corresponding bathroom colors from which you can select when in a hurry. However, you can mess up sometimes with the rush and mis-click or accidentally reset everything.

I forget very easily, so I have messed up countless times while trying to add a pass request.

Senior Caitlin Fauls is frustrated by the length of time it takes to fill out a request, but she also points out another problem. “The bathrooms always fill up too fast,” Fauls said.

Once the teacher accepts the student’s pass, the clock starts. Students have ten minutes to be out of the classroom before their names are flagged in the system. Of course, sometimes it’s not the students fault. They could have a personal problem that could take longer than expected, causing  them to be late and now they might get punished for it.

The time limit is one of the reasons why I don’t even use the bathroom out of fear that I won’t be able to get back to class in time and get in trouble for something I couldn’t control because of a time limit.

E-hallpass is unnecessary. It didn’t stop some students from taking a long time–more than needed–to be somewhere. And I believe that this was the reason behind the implementation of e-hallpass in the first place.

Students kept skipping class with their bathroom passes which blocked other students who actually needed to make use of the bathroom. The e-hallpass doesn’t stop some students from continuing to skip class.

Lewis alum (class of 2024) Martha Mae remembers the inconvenience of E-Hall Pass from her high school years, remembering it as being “unnecessary.” “Why is it a feature? To prevent students from skipping class? It doesn’t really work. And I do believe it could work but so far it’s just annoying for students and possibly frustrating for some teachers,” Mae said.

Mae brings up a good point on how this system could be frustrating for the teachers.

When questioned, science/special education teacher (and great friend of mine) Lauren Hill spoke of the imperfect nature of e-hallpass and the added need it creates for more record keeping among the teachers.

“There is no accountability or consequences for students that do not fool the expectations. This means teachers are responsible for keeping track of yellow flags that appear in the system. It is not easy to go back and count the flags to write referrals. There is also nothing to keep students from putting in a bathroom pass and going somewhere else,” Hill said.

FCPS had good intentions through the roll-out of e-hallpass. And for all its design faults, it does has some practical uses for teachers.

Unlike all students interviewed, Hill is against entirely getting rid of e-hallpass as it is “not completely broken.” “I think it is a good idea so we know who is where and when locations are full, so students do not go to a bathroom that is full and spend more time in the hallway because the bathroom is full,” Hill said.

Another good thing is that it allows teachers to keep a track of time of the student who has been out. Teachers will be able to tell how long a student has “gone to the bathroom,” and if that student has been out for an unnecessary amount of time, they would either send a student to go find that class-skipping-student, or go find that student themselves.

Hill shared important suggestions to change the current e-hallpass system. “I would try to get passes that beep when students are out of location. I would also have someone that is not a classroom teacher monitor the system for flags of abuse,” Hill said.

The E-hall pass doesn’t stop some students from skipping class, and those types of students should be given three strikes on their use. If they hit strike 3, then they should not be able to use the e-hallpass for a whole month; that’s how I would do it.

Should we entirely get rid of e-hallpass system? Sure! We would go back to students asking a teacher for a bathroom pass and having the teachers give passes to the trustworthy students.

If the e-hallpass stays (and it appears it will), there must be a way to make the pass less annoying to access and be more beneficial to the Lewis community. There’s always room for improvement.