A new digital pass system, PASS, is being implemented for the 2024-2025 school year in order to crack down on the number of vaping and other inappropriate actions in the bathrooms.
Once implemented, the number of students in the building that are let out on a pass at one time can be limited. PASS will be used on every school-issued laptop to request a pass to the restroom, which will then be accepted or denied by the teacher, based on whether or not enough passes are available throughout the building. The system can also limit certain students from being in the hallways at the same time, and track how many bathroom passes are used by a student in a day.
“We had gathered feedback from the middle schools that have been using it I believe going on four years now. The feedback we heard was good, so we decided to move forward with it for next year,” Assistant Principal Matt Ambrose said.
Some current freshmen and sophomores have good experiences with PASS.
“I feel like it [PASS] will be better than the physical passes because they will be able to keep track of where students should be,” Abigail Kistinger, freshman, said. “We used PASS at the middle school too, and it made a big difference.”
However, not all student feedback was positive.
“People are not going to like it. I consider myself a law-abiding citizen so it is not fair that I have to wait ten minutes into the class period for a bunch of other people to come back from the bathroom,” Grant Kearney, senior, said.
Many students are concerned about how this system will realistically play out.
“Teachers won’t care about enforcing the system as it becomes too repetitive and time consuming for them to do on top of helping classes, which will lead to students who wander the halls just as they do now, with no repercussions,” Ethan Diaz, junior, said.
From a teacher’s standpoint, the new system is likely to assist their classroom management and bring about a good learning environment.
“I do feel that a strong message of structure and management is a positive in the whole building. This system will allow deans and campus monitors to be utilized in better ways,” Karin Walker said.
Nonetheless, administrators are eager to reap the benefits of less time and energy going into maintaining the school’s safety.
“We have heard how simple it is to use, and how it has cut down on students being out of class, and the number of problems being reported to the dean’s office. I believe it will have a positive impact on the classroom and the school community,” Ambrose said.