Imagine you’re sitting in class, your leg bouncing up and down. You’ve had to go to the bathroom for the past 20 minutes but somebody else is out. After what feels like an eternity, your classmate comes back. You can finally go, so you pull up the Securly Pass app and you hit the bathroom button … only to find out it’s at maximum occupancy.
Bellevue Public Schools began using Securly Pass back in January 2024. It was set up as an alternative to the somewhat enforced QR Code system that we used to go by. It is used by submitting requests to go to a certain location, which is then (usually) required to be accepted by your teacher. The idea is that the system would function well, but in reality, it’s a mess.
Securly Pass’ objective is to track people as they go to specific places–or at least try to. Kids abuse the pass system as an excuse to walk through the halls, pretending to be Formula One racers as they’re taking laps around the library. For the past year we’ve had this broken system, and for the past year I’ve come across a multitude of people who are enjoying their hourly walk around the school.
A key issue about the new pass system is its limitations. Of all 1481 (as of January 28th) students that attend Bellevue West, only 25 are allowed to use the restrooms at once. With there being 11 total bathrooms in the school, it’s starting to feel like having more than two stalls/urinals may have been an oversight with how limiting the system is. While there is a way for teachers to bypass this system, it feels like a hassle for students when interrupting your class to ask.
Enacted this semester, only one student is allowed out of the classroom at a time, as opposed to the two before. And to top that off, students are now flagged and placed on a list whenever they are gone for longer than a whopping five minutes, which is way too little time to be flagging people. If someone’s gotta go, they gotta go, and bathroom breaks can take quite a bit of time. These five minutes include walking to and from the bathroom, which make it even more straining for those who need to go number one. A better idea would be to limit the usage of those who spend over ten minutes in the bathroom, as that’s when it starts to become too long.
Securly Pass has its ups and downs, and while it may be an effective way to reduce the activity of those various ne’er-do-wells, it makes using the restroom worse for everyone else. It is a secure system, but it’s going to be a pass from me.
