Hall passes: the miracle piece of paper that grants students permission to leave class to go to the bathroom, library, and more.

This year, however, those yellow passes hold no meaning. MN has stopped the outdated paper practice and installed a more modern form of tracking students: e-hall passes.

Many schools in Millard have adopted the online system of passes. Students don’t even need to raise their hand to ask a teacher for a pass. They simply log onto their computer and launch the e-hall pass website to request one. The teachers can accept or deny that pass with a click of a button from their end.

This system is meant to ensure that students are not meeting friends in the hallway and utilizing their class time well. While it is clear the e-hall pass will likely be around for years to come, The Hoofbeat staff agree that this new technology is not really as effective as it was intended to be.

“[The e-hall pass] streamlines the amount of time students are in class,” Assistant Principal Amber Ripa said.

The administration believes this new system allows students to be in class more and in the hallway less, in order to create fewer distractions in the classroom and learning process.

However, time and time again, these hall passes have proven to disrupt class time. Once a student submits a pass, it makes a loud noise that the whole class hears. It’s disruptive when it’s during a lecture or work time as the entire class gets distracted by it, and the teacher may have to pause their lecture to go to their computer and confirm their pass.

Many students, including junior Gabby Zambuto, agree that the entire process of creating an e-hall pass just to use the restroom is very tedious and extra.

“It’s just a long process and if you are disrupting class anyway then why not just raise your hand and ask to go with no e-hall pass involvement?” Zambuto said.

In some emergency situations, going through the hassle of getting your computer out, finding room numbers, and getting your teacher’s approval adds more stress to something so simple. Regular paper passes would be less time-consuming and easier for both students and teachers to use.

Students dislike having to get their computer out and wait for it to load with the internet issues, just to use the restroom. When there are so many students in the building, there will certainly be many wifi problems.

We’ve all seen someone get out their computer during instructional time to make an e-hall pass just to wait five minutes to get to the site and make it. Having both issues of needing to use the restroom and your wifi not working is exasperating.

The timing system is also just an invasion of privacy. Yes, it makes sure students are where they’re supposed to be, but tracking bathroom times is a bit excessive and for many students unnecessary.

“It feels weird being timed. I feel like I’m rushed and have no sense of privacy anywhere in the school,” Zambuto said.

As high school students, we deserve at least a bit of freedom to use the bathroom and not get tracked every step of the way.

Ultimately, the e-hall pass system is inconvenient, disrupts class, and can be an invasion of privacy. However, although many students in MN dislike this method of passes, it is here to stay.

“I feel like in a way I’ve gotten used to it, but I still don’t like it and think it’s annoying,” Zambuto said.

The Hoofbeat staff has also become accustomed to the e-hall pass system despite its drawbacks and realizes that change takes time.

Everyone tends to find change to be very irritating. Whenever some new rule or regulation is enacted there is always strong uncertainty and is bound to have opposers.

Although it might seem inconvenient to students, in the beginning, e-hall passes are district-wide implementation and they won’t be going away anytime soon. It may be annoying to students but this change is something we must all accept and adapt to.