While many schools still use paper or other handheld passes for students to use when they leave the classroom, NHS has shifted to an online pass system in the last couple of years. Students at NHS must fill out an E-Hall pass every time that they want to exit a classroom during the class period. E-Hall Pass is a website that allows students to build and submit their own passes for acceptance by their teachers. Prior to E-Hall Pass, NHS used designated sections in the printed handbook, distributed to each student at the start of the year, for bathroom pass use. NHS has been using E-Hall passes since the beginning of last school year. 

According to Vice Principal Blake Smith, the paper pass system did not allow students to be held accountable. Some students may have been given a paper pass, but they never arrived at their destination. When a student uses an E-Hall pass, the teacher giving the pass and the teacher receiving the pass are both aware that the student is arriving/leaving, and the students are better held accountable.

“We are able to see students in need that are taking long bathroom breaks, or using frequent passes. We are able to help them and use data to do that. Lastly, we can set passes so students who have issues [with one another] are not in the hallway at the same time. I think it has worked well overall,” Smith said.

Smith additionally says that he thinks the E-Hall passes are more reliable than the paper passes that have been used in previous years. Similarly to Smith, sophomore Natalie Jones likes using E-Hall passes. Jones says she likes using E-Hall passes more than paper passes because it’s a lot quicker than having to wait for a teacher to sign your pass.

“I like that I don’t have to get a pass written up to go somewhere or have to write down a pass into a planner,” Jones said. “I think that if E-hall pass was able to not shut down a ton, then it would work smoother. Although I like E-hall passes more than paper passes, there are a lot of glitches that make them less reliable than paper passes.” 

Over the past couple weeks, there have been a handful of announcements over the intercoms stating that E-Hall pass is down and that students are to use paper passes for the time being. Smith says that administration has contacted E-Hall pass each time the technical difficulty has occurred and E-Hall pass has not had any good reasons for why it has been down and has had multiple glitches. 

“I think that paper passes are more reliable because the system goes down what seems to be every day and we have to go back to paper passes either way,” sophomore Esmeralda Maldonado said.

Maldonado does not like E-Hall passes and thinks that NHS should change back to paper passes because of the glitches and shut downs. 

“I think teachers should just use paper passes because they are less confusing to work with. The technical difficulty would also not occur and would make paper passes more reliable than E-Hall passes,” Maldonado said.