Next semester, Ritenour will introduce a new Digital Hall Pass to prevent the amount of students in the hallways by keeping track of students, where they may be, and how long they have been out of class.
Ritenour has become used to the paper hall passes, where students can just ask for a pass from a teacher and leave the class. As simple as it is, it allows too many students to be out of class at the same time and for a long period of time.
Fortuna Kadima, both a district worker and a Ritenour graduate, is the creator of the digital hall pass that students and teachers will access next semester in order for students to be in the halls. He learned that paper passes were no longer working and that Ritenour would need something better; something that includes the safety of students and operations for their needs.
“The system improves safety by providing real-time visibility into where students are during the school day, reducing unauthorized or extended time out of class, and enabling quicker responses when issues arise. This level of oversight is not possible with traditional paper passes,” Kadima said.
As a Ritenour graduate, Kadima has experienced the life of only having paper hall passes available, and it is clear that he has seen something within them to make them simpler and more effective. Kadima believes that this new system is not only more effective, but allows teachers to see where students are and promote safety.
Math teacher Ellen Kim has already started using the digital hall pass with her students. She noticed that students are able to ask for the bathroom easier, and it limits the students from leaving the class whenever they want.
“I think it will be positive because students will have more freedom to use the restroom when needed, teachers won’t have to stop what they are doing to write passes, and staff can request to see students as needed,” Kim said.
With students needing to use the restroom at different times, it can cause a lot of pauses in the lessons that are being taught, but with the Digital Hall Pass, all teachers need to do is use a click of a button to let them out.
Of course, nothing is perfect, and there can be things that need to be fixed with this new hall pass. The junior counselor, Chermoan Lindsey-Jones, has seen a few tweaks that could be made.
“The digital hall pass can be improved by adding features that help all high school students, such as automatic extra time for students with medical needs and an easy override option for teachers. This would make it easier for teachers to continue teaching when students need to leave the classroom,” Lindsey-Jones said.
There are other needs besides going to the bathroom that students need that may require more time to be outside of class. So, with a few adjustments, teachers could give students this extra time if necessary.
This new policy will not only affect the teachers, but how students run their everyday lives inside the building. Junior Grace Key sees both positives and negatives of how this can change how students are given access.
“I feel like less students will be in the hallways, but I think there will be a lot of complaining from the students. Also, since it is a digital hall pass, how do the staff members in the hall know if they should be out there or not?” Key said.
The digital hall pass is not perfected yet,, but it shows a strong future for life at Ritenour, and it will continue to change for the better.
“Overall, the transition was driven by a focus on student safety, operational efficiency, and data integrity, with the goal of better supporting staff and improving daily school operations,” Kadima said.
