Hall passes have been a consistent subject of issue in the past few years at Hillsborough High School. From yellow paper passes to laminated gold passes, there have been numerous iterations, each bringing their own pros and cons. However, the latest solution seems to be sparking discussion among both students and faculty.
Similar to Clever, Securly encourages the practice of sharing personalized resources with students. Schools of all kinds are able to track student activity with just a click. Both Clever and Securly are easily accessible to anyone at Hillsborough High School just by pressing on the HTPS bookmark. As the second attached link, the app opens up with a pop up listing options for further instruction.
One of the programs main features is its “create pass,” option giving students the ability to request or create a pass to exit the classroom for a variety of purposes. Students receive digital passes that can be used throughout the day. In order to begin the process of pass making, the “departing from” and “destination” features must be filled to let faculty and staff in the main, counseling or health offices, library, tech hub or bathroom duty know where a student is coming from and where they are headed. After submission, a countdown begins indicating when a student leaves the room, and is stopped when a student ends the timer showing that they have reentered the class. In addition to this new digital world, staff at the destination points also receive a notification that a student is on their way, making them able to sign them in and out, efficiently streamlining the process.
Visual of Securly’s home screen with its different features to work the program effectively (Mariama Luckay).
“I guess it’s working,” English teacher Mr. Thomas McDevitt said. “I like that it has certain limits on who can go to the bathroom at what time. I thought I would dislike it, but it’s not so bad.”
The recent update to the hallpasses, originated from a pilot run at the Hillsborough Middle School, where one pod used the software, as well as at Auten Road Intermediate School where two pods also implemented the process.
The update was also brought on by the decision to progress with new technological advancements instead of staying stuck in the past, while also eliminating the financial and environmental cost of printing and using paper passes. A variety of reasons went into the decision to make the change according to principal Jeffery DiLolo.
DiLolo said, “There’s not only a financial cost, but also a cost for you know, using paper, and obviously we’re trying to get away from that, especially with something that’s not reusable or doesn’t have an educational value.”
“Were there other perks going into it? Surely, some of them include everything from our ability to track frequent flyers of using the restroom multiple times in a day and sometimes having a conversation with them,” DiLolo said. “Although the ability to track students overusing the pass was not an intended priority, it has become an unintended benefit,” he said.
Although previous schools have seen success utilizing the smartpass, conflicts could arise with other unforeseen issues. Since this system is unlike anything we have seen at the high school before, students and staff have experienced difficulty coming to terms with the new change.
When asked about the Securely system, Junior Lia Famula said, “Personally I don’t like the new circular pass. I think it is something that is easily forgotten about. Like today I made a pass to go to the bathroom and came back later to see that I forgot to stop the timer resulting in it showing that I was out of class for 30 minutes. I don’t think it’s a reliable source of timing, and people shouldn’t face repercussions if they happen to exceed the time limit.”
Classes where students find that they don’t often use their chromebooks often may also find the system inconvenient.
“I don’t like being tethered to my computer, and I also don’t like the idea that if I’m not a student,” English teacher Mrs. Puma said. “I think there are so many distractions already that we’re trying to work around that requiring one or both of us to be on our computers to make this happen isn’t convenient for me. Getting a pen and using a piece of paper or grabbing a lanyard is more convenient,” she said.
The ideas for technological advancements don’t stop with Securly. “Faculty and students should be on the lookout for more operational changes based on the beneficial aspects or setbacks that came with testing out the app for the first time.” DiLollo said.
DiLollo commented on the potential for another opportunity to try something new. “One of the things we’re talking about is swipe entry for every interior doorway, no longer having the keys even, where a teacher would double tap to lock their classroom, and swipe to unlock it, and it would automatically lock. So if there’s a lockdown or emergency or it locks at the end of each period, someone couldn’t gain entry if you forgot to lock it.”
With all the buzz going on about Securly, students and faculty can share their opinions on the subject by attending board meetings or through writing letters to the editor, to ensure voices are heard and Boro is able to continue thriving and keeping up with technology one step at a time.
