At Taylorsville, the hall pass policy has been a relaxed, laid back practice. Ask your teacher to use the hall pass, put your phone in the designated area, take the clipboard, and return. But, as 2026 rolled in,new kiosks in every teacher’s classroom did as well. This enforced a new hall pass policy for the entire school. Now, there is an extra step of “Checking in” and “Checking out”. Alongside this, the regular system of your nine-digit number, the clipboard, and your phone continues.

Why have some schools chosen to use this system? Many claim it’s easier to keep track of everybody and where they are. When signing out, the system will assign you to a bathroom depending on which hall you are in. Then, teachers can quickly search you up and know where you are and where you’re supposed to be.

 Although some schools in Utah have had this policy in place for a long time, it is not a state or district law. Digital hall pass policies are completely optional for schools to use. And  Taylorsville is not the first of many in Utah. Other schools such as Farmington Junior have been using their system since 2024.

It keeps an eye on all students- digital hallpasses track student usage. Tracking usage uncovers patterns in hallway behavior, according to PBIS rewards. This system makes it easier for administrators to track where students are at all times- and how long they have been out. This can be useful in emergency situations, school-wide and medically. 

Another factor is crowd control in the bathroom. The system keeps track of who’s where and knows how many people are in certain bathrooms at all times. This does create a small flaw; when too many people are out in the hall at one time, it does not allow you to create a hall pass. This may cause problems for some, but the effectiveness of the system cancels out this flaw.

So, have all the promised benefits of the digital hall pass held up? Has it been successful in our school? With this system being in effect for roughly a month now, students and teachers have had time to learn the system and get used to it being in their classes. So far, it has held up to its standards. 

Although, it had some issues the first day, and in some classrooms on other dates. It did not cause any huge discrepancies, and the bugs were easy to fix. “I really  have not noticed it at all. Class has seemed to be the same for me, at least. I thought that it was gonna be super complicated and take time out of class, but it really hasn’t.” Says Taylorsville Junior (chooses to stay anonymous). Students have not found any issues or complaints, and have not been angry at this system.

As for crowding and bathroom space, it has all cleared up. There has been a huge improvement in the lack of people in the hallways, as well as bathroom lines being shorter.” Using the hall pass has been so much easier  to use. There’s no people in the hallways, and you can actually use the bathroom without waiting in line.” States another Taylorsville junior (wishes to stay anonymous). This helps students who use the hall pass to use the restroom be able to do it smoothly, as they intend to.

All-in-all, the new hall pass system might have been a bit of a change for our school. But giving it a shot and trying it out has been a good outcome. Soon, signing in and out of a kiosk will become a habit for all Taylorsville students in the end.