New App Monitors Wolcott Students In School Hallways

Written and reported by By WFSB 3TV Staffers Dylan Fearon and Evan Sobol

WOLCOTT, CT — A system that shows how long students are in the hallways and bathrooms is now in schools all over the country, and Connecticut.

Local parents are concerned about E-Hallpass.

It’s a digital hall pass system where students request to leave the classroom through an app.

Students in Wolcott just started using it on Tuesday.

This system tracks which students are out of the classroom, where they asked to go, and how long they’ve been gone.

It’s used to make sure kids are safe. Students Eyewitness News spoke to after school don’t like it.

They claim the school limits how many kids can leave the classroom at a time and some students have to wait a while to use the bathroom.

Some parents believe this is a digital hall monitor, watching students’ every move. Some feel the system goes too far if it knows how long a student was in the bathroom for, and how often students ask to go. E-Hallpass is reportedly in over 1,000 schools across the country.

Schools believe it helps with security and safety, knowing how many students are out of the classroom, in case there’s an emergency.

“There is some part of control there. It’s a good idea but I don’t know if they’re implementing it correctly,” said Dominic Richdale, Senior at Wolcott High School. “Vaping can be an issue and ditching class can be an issue but I don’t think this is the right way to go about it.”

“Whether in a real emergency or a practice drill situation, this information allows for greater awareness and security across the entire school campus,” said Wolcott High’s principal in a letter sent to families this week.

Wolcott is just in a pilot program to see how this goes. They’ll see if it works well over the next month.

>>>You can watch the video of this news story at WFSB 3 TV here.

(Editor's note: This story was written and reported by WFSB 3 TV staff and is reprinted on Patch with permission).