OPINION
MAY 6-7, 2021
Opinions about e-hallpass remain divided, students more against than staff members
By: Scott Letourneau
E-hallpass was adopted by the Olathe School District in an effort to minimize the risk of COVID-19 exposure. The software can track the amount of time a person is gone before arriving at their destination or coming back to the classroom, making it easier to tell when a student is messing around or not where they are supposed to be when they leave the classroom. This also allows school administration to perform contact tracing at locations where a student has been if they test positive for COVID-19 so the staff can evaluate the people who may have been exposed to that student and who may be at risk.
However, despite the precautions taken and thought that went into this system, many students have shown their distaste for the new system, and it is very unpopular among members of the student body. “I can understand why we transitioned to e-hallpass in order to help track exposures in the school,” senior Danielle Ferguson-Ticao said. “But the timing feature as soon as it’s approved until it’s ended seems like a bit much.” Many students dislike e-hallpass for the inconvenience it causes and the inconvenience it is to set up, as their request may be automatically denied due to a location being full or laptop WiFi being out.
“I think so many students dislike e-hallpass because sometimes the bathrooms are full and they have to wait,” freshman Alex Howell said. “Also I think that it’s just tedious sometimes to get your laptop out turn it on, log in and such just to go to the bathroom.” There has also been the apparent issue of students filling out a pass to go to a specific bathroom only to go to the closest one - even if the closest bathroom is the opposite gender. “Sometimes I’ll go to the other one,” senior Lauren Taylor said. “That usually works if the girls’ bathroom is full.” However, despite the inconveniences and bathroom issues e-hallpass presents, it
may still be a better alternative compared to the blue planners and advisory sheets used for the previous years. “I do remember when we used planners and advisory sheets,” Ferguson-Ticao said. “So in that sense it’s nice we’ve gone virtual.” The planners were small blue handbooks that acted as the school’s hall pass system. They were easy to get out and have a teacher sign right away without all the hassle presented by e-hallpass, such as long loading times, updates, and connection issues. “I think the planers just in general were more convenient,” senior Sam McCauley said. “With the planners, it was easy to be able to get a
The typical layout of a student’s e-hallpass after logging in. The Olathe School District switched to exclusively using the e-hallpass system in Sept. 2020 in effort to reduce the amount of contact with students’ planners because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Olathe West was already using the system, but other schools were forced to adapt to the new website, that teachers can send students passes to go to their classrooms, or vice versa. It has been met with mixed reception from the student body and staff.
20 THE EYRIE
