Paper hall passes and clipboard-mounted sign-in sheets are becoming a relic of the past. Digital hall passes have emerged as a better solution to manage student movement and maximize in-class time. While a digital hall pass, also known as an electronic hall pass, is exactly what the name implies — a hall pass that’s requested and managed electronically instead of manually — it may not be as obvious how it works. For example, some have misperceptions about how a digital hall pass knows a student’s physical location, as well as how it protects student privacy.
Read on to gain a better understanding of how Securly Pass works, what it can and can’t do, and why it’s a safe and effective alternative to traditional hall passes.
How Does Securly Pass Work?
Securly Pass is a software-based system that was developed to improve efficiency by automating the process of requesting, approving, and managing hall passes. Students submit an electronic request for a hall pass from their internet-enabled laptop, mobile phone, iPad, or desktop computer. The request is transmitted directly to the teacher’s device, where the teacher is able to approve or deny it.
Securly Pass improves school safety by providing a current and continually updated record of which students are using hall passes at any given time and for what destinations. Teachers and administrative staff are able to see this record on a digital dashboard that’s accessible from a web browser, as well as from a convenient mobile app.
For example, in a school emergency, administrative staff can check the dashboard to know which students are using hall passes and for which locations so they can quickly account for everyone. Even in a non-emergency, if an adult encounters a student in the hallway or bathroom during a class period, they can check the dashboard from their mobile phone to verify if the student has an active pass and for what location.
Myth 1: Digital Hall Passes Are a Student Tracking and Surveillance Device
Securly Pass is not a tracking and surveillance device. It does not use GPS or any other geolocation technology to track and monitor a student’s exact location. Even when a student requests a pass from a mobile device, Securly Pass does not communicate with or have access to the device’s GPS tracking or geolocation data.
Securly Pass was developed to improve efficiency and safety, not to track students. It doesn’t know the student’s physical location. It only knows the student’s intended destination. When a student requests a hall pass, they specify where they’re going. For example, this might be the bathroom, the nurse’s office, or a meeting. Their active hall pass record includes this information, commonly referred to as the location.
The location information in Securly Pass is intended to help school staff quickly account for students in an emergency. It also makes it easy to identify potential student meetups, control the number of passes issued for a location, and confirm if a student is where they’re approved to be.
Myth 2: A Digital Hall Pass is a Threat to Student Privacy
Securly Pass is not a threat to students’ privacy. On the contrary, using a digital hall pass provides safeguards against privacy risks that aren’t available from manual processes.
While traditional hall passes offer little to nothing in the way of privacy and access controls, Securly Pass was designed with student privacy in mind. On a clipboard, anyone can see who is using hall passes and why. With Securly Pass, students have access to their own pass information only. Additionally, any personally identifiable information (PII) collected by the system about students is anonymized and accessible only to those who are authorized to have access for legitimate educational purposes.
As an educational technology company, Securly takes student data privacy and security very seriously. Securly’s suite of products has achieved SOC 2 certifications for information security standards, and meets or exceeds compliance with the Children’s Online Privacy and Protection Rule (COPPA), the California Student Privacy Agreement (CSPA), and all other applicable state-level data privacy laws.
Learn how Securly prioritizes data privacy and security here.
Myth 3: Digital Hall Passes are not Fair or Equitable
Fairness and equity is very nuanced, so this is less clear cut. However, Securly Pass enables data-driven decision making, which minimizes the potential for personal biases and subjective opinions to influence decisions.
In the absence of data, people have no choice but to draw their own conclusions. By providing reliable and easily accessible data about hall pass usage, Securly Pass promotes fairness and equity. School administrators can generate reports to objectively analyze student movement and understand how students are using hall passes, instead of relying on gut feelings, opinions, or biases.
Somewhat related is the notion of accessibility. This is an easier question to answer. Yes, Securly Pass was developed in accordance with Universal Design principles to maximize accessibility and equity. Its user interface, fonts, color contrast, and compatibility with reader apps ensure its accessibility to as many people as possible, regardless of age, disability or other factors.
Is Your School a Good Fit for a Digital Hall Pass?
Securly Pass has proven to be an effective tool for thousands of schools. Securly Pass gives school principals, office staff, and teachers an easier way to issue and track hall passes. When you make the switch to a digital hall pass system, you can:
- Know what students are using hall passes at any given time
- Identify student location by building or room in an emergency
- Limit passes for those “frequent flyers” who are always out of class
- Stop student meetups, vaping, and vandalism
- Reduce hall pass misuse and maximize instructional time
“With Securly Pass, the number of kids out in the hallway at any time has gone down by 30-40%. That’s a win-win because we want students in class.”
Tim Loversky, Principal, Wredling Middle School
If you’re still not sure if your school is a good fit for a digital hall pass, you can learn more here.
You’ll also find more helpful resources elsewhere on the Securly Blog.
