Choosing the right ending method for your hall passes helps balance data accuracy with classroom efficiency. This guide will help you understand the differences between automatic and manual endings so you can decide which workflow fits your campus best. By the end, you'll be able to configure these settings to ensure student movement is tracked exactly how you need it.
Permission Level Required: Owner
In this article:
Automatic Ending Hall Pass Benefits: Learn why automatically expiring passes are the recommended best practice for most schools.
Manual Ending Hall Pass Benefits: Discover how to track minute-by-minute punctuality data for higher accountability.
How to Configure Hall Pass Ending Methods: Follow a step-by-step guide to set your school-wide or pass-specific ending rules.
Automatic Ending Hall Pass Benefits
When you set your Hall Pass ending method to Automatic, Hall passes are designed to automatically expire at the end of their designated duration, without requiring any manual action from students or teachers.
The primary advantage of automatic-ended hall passes is its simplicity and ease of management. It is one less step for both teachers and students, ensuring a seamless hall pass system.
Best Practice Tip: We highly recommend opting for automatically ending passes as our best practice, as it minimizes disruptions during class time and provides comprehensive reporting on student movements across campus.
Manual Ending Hall Pass Benefits
Hall passes will remain active until they are ended by the teacher or student upon the student's return to class. This allows you to track specific, minute-by-minute data regarding return times.
Manually ending hall passes mark precise student return times, providing valuable data on punctuality trends and attendance. However, human error is a factor; forgotten passes compromise data accuracy and can trigger error messages by exceeding school-wide active pass limits.
Key Settings for Manually Ended Passes:
Under Hall Pass> Settings the Overdue hall pass timeout (mins) setting is the Time, in minutes, after which the hall pass will automatically expire if not ended manually.
Pro Tip: Overdue hall passes still count as active hall passes and contribute to the total number of maximum active hall passes setting.
If your hall pass workflow includes student created hall passes, you will want to enable the setting Allow students to manually end their hall passes under Hall Pass> Settings> Student Settings so that students can end their passes on their devices.
If you have an overall automatic ending method but some pass types are set to end manually, then you will want to ensure that this setting is enabled on that hall pass type:
How to Configure Hall Pass Ending Methods
You can set a global preference for how all passes end or customize the behavior for specific types of passes. This allows you to have "Automatic" endings for standard restroom breaks while requiring "Manual" check-ins for high-accountability locations like the office.
Step-by-step guide to Configuring Global Hall Pass Ending Methods
Step-by-step guide to Configuring Global Hall Pass Ending Methods
Start by selecting the Hall Pass section from the navigation menu.
Navigate to Settings to customize hall pass preferences.
Under the Hall Pass Settings heading, open the dropdown to Default hall pass ending method choose how hall passes should end by default
Select Automatic so hall passes close on their own, saving time for educators and staff. OR Select Manual to have hall passes remain active until ended by a teacher or student.
Even if your overall hall pass ending method is set to Automatic or Manual, you can also select specific hall pass ending methods for specific hall pass types to give you further control and customization in your hall ways.
Step-by-step Guide to Selecting Hall Pass Ending Method for a Specific Hall Pass Type
Step-by-step Guide to Selecting Hall Pass Ending Method for a Specific Hall Pass Type
In the Hall Pass section, select theTypes tab to view and manage all available hall pass types.
Click the edit icon next to your desired hall pass type to update its settings.
Easily update any hall pass type directly from your organized list of options, or create a new type by selecting Create Type in the top right hand corner.
Under the Settings heading, Open the Hall pass ending method dropdown to customize how passes are completed.
Choose Automatic to have the hall passes end after the default pass time has elapsed, or select Manual to let staff and students control when each hall pass ends for added oversight.
Click Save to confirm your changes and instantly update your hall pass rules for this hall pass type.
Additional Features or Settings
Understanding the "Why" behind each method helps you optimize your school's reporting.
Automatic Ending Method: Hall passes are designed to automatically expire at the end of their designated duration without requiring any manual action from students or teachers. This is our recommended best practice because it provides a seamless experience and ensures your Active Hall Pass count stays accurate without manual upkeep.
Manual Ending Method: Hall passes will remain active until they are ended by the teacher or student upon the student returning to class. This allows you to track specific, minute-by-minute data regarding return times.
Important: If users forget to end manual passes, it can lead to inaccurate data and trigger error messages if you reach your school-wide Active Hall Pass limit. Make sure to set a reasonable Hall pass reporting timeout (e.g., 60 minutes) to prevent passes from staying Active indefinitely.
FAQs
FAQs
How do I see data for passes that ended automatically?
You can view data for expired passes by navigating to the Hall Pass Dashboard and selecting the Ended filter. This provides clear insights into student activity even after the pass has disappeared from the active list.
Can I customize the ending method for just one specific type of pass?
Yes, you can customize the ending method for a specific pass by navigating to the Types tab in the Hall Pass section, clicking the Edit (pencil) icon next to a pass type, and selecting the preferred method under its individual Settings.
What happens if a student forgets to end a manual pass?
If a student forgets to end a manual pass, the pass will stay active until it reaches the duration set in the Hall pass reporting timeout (mins) field. Once that time limit is reached, the system will end the pass automatically to keep your dashboard clean.
Troubleshooting
Troubleshooting
Issue: Students are receiving error messages saying they can't start a pass because the "School limit has been reached," but the halls look empty.
Solution: This usually happens when using the Manual ending method and users are forgetting to end their passes. To resolve this:
Go to the Hall Pass Dashboard.
Filter by Active passes.
Manually end any "ghost" passes that should have been closed.
Consider increasing your Hall pass reporting timeout or switching to Automatic ending.