By Mariana Pliego-Gutierrez and Kimberly Perez
Many have heard by now that there is going to be a new digital pass system that will be rolled out soon. The main thing with a new technology is the question of how it will work and how will it be implemented here.
How will this system work? Like pretty much everything else these days, there is an app that we will use called Minga. The way that this app works is that students and teachers need to download it on their phones or search up Minga and sign in with Google.
The purpose of Minga is to create digital hall passes as well as to set limits and restrictions. So that will limit the amount of times that you can go to the bathroom (if it is just a social call or you just want to get out of class for a minute.)
Teachers would be able to monitor every hall pass from their classroom dashboard. So just like absences or lates to class, there will be a log of how many times a student left class. This app will help identify which students over time overuse hall passes, as well as how long they were out on a pass.
What teachers can do is add students who frequently go to the bathroom on a “No Hall Pass List” (OUCH – that is going to be a thing now). Teachers can also set up warnings on a number of hall passes a student can have in a day. This helps with avoiding having two or more students from being in the halls at the same time, it also controls the amount of passes teachers give out at a time.
These are all things that may seem annoying for students now, but will help to keep students on task as they go through the day.
The main question running through the minds of students is the question of this being a good idea or not. One positive aspect of this new system is that students do not need to ask a teacher to fill out a pass that takes a long time to fill out. It is a necessary project now but also a complete waste of time to ask for a pass, get the thing filled out and then signed and approved. This new system promises to cut that time down significantly. You may not need to even ask for permission, but many of these rules will still need to be worked out as this system gets implemented.
The negative concerns from many students is that students feel like this is a little overly controlling of their persons. For example, what if a student has an emergency and needs to use the bathroom, or go see a counselor, principal, or student service and the wifi is off or just being slow, that would be such an inconvenience. Some students expressed concerns about teachers being able to reject passes, but I have been assured that those kinds of rules will remain the same as they are now. Students will have the same rights to use facilities as they do now. So this concern is not a real issue.
Administrators are using this to make life easier for everyone, teachers, students and themselves.
Mr. Acevedo said, “I’m excited about the possibility of helping the school and students with this new system.” Meaning that he can’t wait to see the positive effect it brings to the school environment.
The new system will be easier for teachers because they will know who is out and when they should be back, and where their students are at any moment, to keep track of them. Which means that teachers can have a roster on who left the class and how long it took them to get back in without having students lie about it or write it on a piece of paper. Paper is so 1900’s.
It can also allow the teachers to know who leaves their class everyday during that period, so that they can help students stay on top of their studies. If parents complain about their son or daughter failing a class the teachers can tell their parents that they are always leaving their class to go to the bathroom, they can see for themselves from a parent roster.
However, students still have concerns, one said, “It’s going to be a problem if the process means loading digital passes because they can’t force students to download an app on their phone”. Another student was concerned that this system will not last and that it will just make things more complicated.
As the students stated, you can’t force the students to download anything on their phone. And some people don’t have enough storage to be able to download it and they can’t take their laptop’s to the bathroom. (That would be gross -ed.)
It would also be wrong if the staff said “If you don’t download the app you’re not allowed to leave the classroom” which will cause students to go to the bathroom in between class switching and then they’ll be late to class. That’s only if the doors are unlocked and security is letting them in. If the doors and lock and security doesn’t let them in, students would probably get into an accident and what are they going to tell the students’ parents?
“Well, your son/daughter didn’t download the app.”
Not only that but what if the online passes creates an excuse for students to be on their phones? They can easily say that they are creating a pass but they’re actually on Tiktok or scrolling through Instagram.
“Get off your phone”
“I’m making a pass!”
“You’ve been making a pass for 30 minutes!”
“WIFI is slow!”
We all know how many of us are as students. So let’s make this system work for the positive aspects that it promises, trying to make this new thing work. We all hate filling out paper passes, so let us make this new system work.
