Digital bathroom passes, or E-Passes, will replace physical passes and sign-out sheets, timing and tracking exactly when, how often and for how long a student leaves class to use the restroom.
School Psychologist Dr. Laura Alles explained, “The purpose of the system is to document and track who is out of class and when, for security purposes.”
English Teacher Nick Wiliams said, “I’ve seen digital passes take action at Mission Bay High School with a lot of great success and I hope we achieve that here at University City.”
According to Principal Mike Paredes the district wants to transition to the use of digital passes due to students who abuse bathroom passes, as well as behavioral issues and simply for the safety of students.
According to Securly, the company which supplies the E-Passes, digital passes create a timestamped record of all movement which will help reduce students who excessively leave class as well as providing a real-time view of who is in the hallways, where they are going, and how long they are out of class.
“This system should increase the time students spend in class, because it will track when students are out and for how long. For example, if a student is asking to go to the bathroom every period, they are obviously taking advantage of the system, and we will now be aware of that,” said Alles. “It will also make sure that students who should not be out of class at the same time are not.”
Physics and Chemistry Teacher Scott Estrada said, “I have been using online passes for my class for two weeks now. I feel if all teachers and staff members use online passes it can become a system that helps behavior on campus.”
Estrada said, “It’s also much more convenient for us teachers because we can approve or deny passes directly from our devices which will reduce us having to pause lessons to fill out paper slips.”
A website that focuses on education said that many teachers feel that students tend to take advantage of passes and believe it is increasingly difficult to track students’ whereabouts (goguardian.com).
Security Guard Mark McPherson said, “Although I have not used them yet, as campus security I think it’s going to be a great tool to use here at University City. I think it will be a great resource to be able to know where everyone is and keep better track of locating students. It’s so important to know where everyone is, for safety reasons and this allows us to be able to do so.”
Many students and teachers feel electronic passes will be beneficial. Senior Malaysia Jordan said, “Digital passes will be a lot easier and convenient. Students won’t lose or steal the passes our teachers provide, and it will help our school save money overall.”
Some, however, have raised concerns about the reliability of using a web-based computer program. Freshman Daniel King said that internet websites can have issues that a piece of paper doesn’t.