This guide helps school owners and administrators launch digital hall passes across an entire campus. You will establish custom pass types, assign time constraints, and deploy real-time monitoring tools. By completing these steps, your school will gain full visibility into student movement and hallway safety.
Permission Level Required: Owner
⚠️ Before You Begin: Ensure that you have enabled and set up Automatic Rostering in People Manager, and that Student, Teacher, and Staff profiles have populated. You cannot apply pass restrictions to empty user roles.
In this guide:
Hall Pass Best Practices: Decide on your Hall Pass policies and how to make them universal for your campus.
Student Created vs Teacher-Assigned Hall Passes: Decide on which workflow works best for your campus, or if taking a blended approach covers your bases.
Understanding Hall Pass Settings: See which settings are enabled by default so you can start with Hall Passes right away.
Configuring Pass Types: Create custom pass reasons like restroom, library, or office visits.
Limit Use and Prevent Meet Ups: Leverage handy tools like the Blackout Schedule and No Party Groups.
View Adoption and Usage in Reports: Utilize the robust reporting features to see hall pass usage and who may need an extra hand.
Hall Pass Best Practices
To maximize campus security and minimize classroom disruption, schools achieve the best results by following this workflow:
Request: Students initiate the workflow by requesting a Hall Pass verbally.
Approval: The Teacher responds with 'yes,' and the student can create a pass, or with 'no,' and the workflow ends.
Creation: The Student creates a pass on their devices or a classroom Kiosk before leaving their seats. This keeps the teacher focused on instruction.
Verification: Teachers monitor active passes directly from My Class. Hall monitors use the live Hall Pass Dashboard to verify hall passes in real time.
The Resolution: Students end their passes immediately upon returning to the classroom or will end automatically after the pass time limit elapses.
For a deeper dive into how Students create passes and how Teachers monitor them, refer to our article on using Minga Hall Passes.
Student Created vs. Teacher-Assigned Hall Passes
There are benefits and drawbacks to having either a student-driven or a teacher-driven workflow for creating Hall Passes. Below, we will examine both approaches so that you can decide which is the best fit for your school.
Student Created Hall Pass Workflow
In this workflow, a student asks for verbal permission in order to create a hall pass. If the teacher approves, the student creates the pass on their own, whether through a 1:1 school-issued device, a personal device, or through a kiosk.
Pros and Cons: Student-led Workflow
Pros and Cons: Student-led Workflow
Pros | Cons |
Minimizes Classroom Disruptions: Because students do the data entry, teachers do not have to stop mid-lesson to type names or click through menus. | Potential for Student Errors: A student might accidentally select the wrong pass type or assign the pass to the wrong teacher. (However, teachers can instantly click "End" on their dashboard to correct this). |
Saves Significant Teacher Time: Standard passes (like restrooms and water fountains) make up 90–95% of all hall pass usage. Shifting creation to the student saves teachers massive amounts of cumulative instructional time | Risk of Unauthorized Passes: A student could theoretically initiate a pass without asking verbal permission. (Though teachers are protected because the pass immediately populates on their dashboard, allowing them to void it) |
Fosters Student Accountability: Students take ownership of their time. They see a live countdown timer on their device, motivating them to return to class quickly and building a culture of responsibility | Device Dependency: It requires the student to have access to a device (a cell phone, personal Chromebook, or shared classroom kiosk) to log into the Minga app |
Automatic Restriction Enforcement: The settings and limitations that have been put in place by the Owner in Minga give the student freedom with some guardrails.
If a student is on a "No Pass" list or belongs to a "No Party" group (preventing specific students from being out at the same time), Minga will block them from creating the pass without the teacher needing to remember these restrictions. |
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Flexible Oversight (The Hybrid Model): Administrators can toggle on a setting that requires Teacher Approval for student-created passes. If turned on, the student creates the pass, and it sends a quick pop-up alert to the teacher’s dashboard to click "Approve" or "Deny," combining student data entry with strict teacher control. |
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Teacher Assigned Hall Pass Workflow
In this workflow, the teacher opens their "My Class" or "My Tools" dashboard, searches for the student, selects the pass type, adjusts parameters, and assigns it directly.
Pros and Cons: Teacher-led Workflow
Pros and Cons: Teacher-led Workflow
Pros | Cons |
Authority and Control: The teacher handles the pass from start to finish. There is zero risk of a student creating an unauthorized pass or putting down the wrong destination. | Disrupts the Flow of the Lesson: If a teacher has to stop teaching for more than 5 seconds to manage a pass, the system becomes a hurdle rather than a help. Finding a student’s name and manually assigning a pass breaks instructional momentum. |
Device-Free For Students: Perfect for schools or classrooms with strict "no cell phone" or no-device policies. The student doesn’t need a screen; the teacher activates it, and it goes live school-wide on the hall monitors' dashboards. | High Administrative Burden: If applied to 100% of passes (including routine bathroom breaks), it forces the teacher to act as a data entry clerk multiple times per period. |
Ideal for Sensitive or Restricted Destinations: This method is best suited for non-routine passes that shouldn't be publicly available for students to select themselves (e.g., visits to the Nurse, Guidance Counselor, or Administration). | Reduces Student Autonomy: It removes the opportunity for students to practice self-monitoring and time management via their own digital countdown timers. |
Override Capabilities: If a student is on a restriction list but genuinely needs to leave, a teacher can manually bypass the system warning and click "Assign Pass." |
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Advanced Scheduling: Teachers can schedule passes ahead of time (e.g., a scheduled student support meeting later in the day), which automatically sends a push notification to the student when it's time to leave. |
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Minga's Recommendation
Minga recommends a blended approach, using the best from each method. For standard, high-frequency movements like restrooms and water fountains (90-95% of traffic), schools should use Student-Created passes (with or without digital teacher approval) to protect teaching time. For specialized, infrequent destinations like the main office, library, or nurse, schools should rely on Teacher-Created/Assigned passes.
Understanding Hall Pass Settings
Setting up your Hall Pass settings to reflect your hall pass policy is key to a successful rollout for your campus.
For an in-depth explanation on all Hall Pass settings, check out Configure Hall Pass Permissions for your School.
Minga has the following settings enabled by default according to our Best Practices:
Hall Pass Settings Enabled by Default
Hall Pass Settings Enabled by Default
Setting | Value |
Default Ending Method | Automatic |
Overdue hall pass timeout (mins) | 20 |
Show recently ended passes | Yes |
Display duration (mins) | 10 |
Allow Notes | Yes |
Kiosk Mode | Yes |
Max hall passes per student per day | 8 |
Maximum number of active hall passes | 50 |
Student request time out | 6 |
Staff request timeout | 10 |
Allow teachers to assign hall passes | Yes |
Allow staff to assign hall passes | Yes |
Allow teachers to view reports | Yes |
Allow teachers/staff to view reports for their hall passes | Yes |
Allow teachers/staff to bypass blackout | Yes |
Allow students to create hall passes | Yes |
Must assign a teacher to hall passes | Yes |
Maximum student created hall passes per day | 8 |
Maximum number of active student created hall passes | 50 |
Default student created hall pass duration (mins) | 6 |
Wait time between student created hall passes (mins) | 30 |
Allow students to manually end their hall passes | No |
Allow students to end hall passes on mobile devices | No |
Note: You can customize and edit these settings if you wish.
Configuring Pass Types
You can define and create the specific types of passes available at your school to ensure clean data collection and ensure students have the right pass for the right situation.
Your Minga will come populated with the following default hall pass types:
Default Hall Pass Types and their Settings
Default Hall Pass Types and their Settings
Restroom:
Default pass time: 5 mins
Maximum simultaneous passes: 10
Enabled for Kiosk: Yes
Limit passes per student per day: Off
Hall Pass ending method: Automatic
Allow students to manually end their pass: Yes
Students can create a pass: Yes
Ignore blackouts: No
Ignore Limits: No
Water fountain:
Default pass time: 5 mins
Maximum simultaneous passes: 10
Enabled for Kiosk: Yes
Limit passes per student per day: Off
Hall Pass ending method: Automatic
Allow students to manually end their pass: Yes
Students can create a pass: Yes
Ignore blackouts: No
Ignore Limits: No
504/IEP/Special:
Default pass time: 5 mins
Maximum simultaneous passes: 10
Enabled for Kiosk: No
Limit passes per student per day: Off
Hall Pass ending method: Automatic
Allow students to manually end their pass: No
Students can create a pass: No
Ignore blackouts: Yes
Ignore Limits: Yes
Office:
Default pass time: 5 mins
Maximum simultaneous passes: 10
Enabled for Kiosk: No
Limit passes per student per day: Off
Hall Pass ending method: Automatic
Allow students to manually end their pass: No
Students can create a pass: No
Ignore blackouts: Yes
Ignore Limits: Yes
Library:
Default pass time: 5 mins
Maximum simultaneous passes: 10
Enabled for Kiosk: No
Limit passes per student per day: Off
Hall Pass ending method: Automatic
Allow students to manually end their pass: No
Students can create a pass: No
Ignore blackouts: No
Ignore Limits: No
Back to class:
Default pass time: 5 mins
Maximum simultaneous passes: 10
Enabled for Kiosk: No
Limit passes per student per day: Off
Hall Pass ending method: Automatic
Allow students to end their pass manually: No
Students can create a pass: No
Ignore blackouts: No
Ignore Limits: No
Transfer:
Default pass time: 5 mins
Maximum simultaneous passes: 10
Enabled for Kiosk: No
Limit passes per student per day: Off
Hall Pass ending method: Automatic
Allow students to end their pass manually: No
Students can create a pass: No
Ignore blackouts: No
Ignore Limits: No
Nurse:
Default pass time: 5 mins
Maximum simultaneous passes: 10
Enabled for Kiosk: No
Limit passes per student per day: Off
Hall Pass ending method: Automatic
Allow students to end their pass manually: No
Students can create a pass: No
Ignore blackouts: No
Ignore Limits: No
Counsellor:
Default pass time: 5 mins
Maximum simultaneous passes: 10
Enabled for Kiosk: No
Limit passes per student per day: Off
Hall Pass ending method: Automatic
Allow students to end their pass manually: No
Students can create a pass: No
Ignore blackouts: No
Ignore Limits: No
Tardy:
Default pass time: 5 mins
Maximum simultaneous passes: 10
Enabled for Kiosk: No
Limit passes per student per day: Off
Hall Pass ending method: Automatic
Allow students to end their pass manually: No
Students can create a pass: No
Ignore blackouts: No
Ignore Limits: No
For a step-by-step walkthrough on creating Hall Pass Types, refer to this article: Set Up and Create Hall Pass Types.
Pro Tip: You can edit the default Hall Pass types and their settings to suit your school's needs.
Limit Use and Prevent Meet Ups
Just because you allow Students to create hall passes doesn't mean your hallways will be the Wild West.
No Party Groups prevent specific students from being in the hall at the same time to reduce incidents like bullying or vandalism.
Black Out Schedules stop hall pass creation during specific times, such as the first and last 10 minutes of a period. giving you control over who is in the hallways at what time.
Pass Lists can be used to limit specific students to 2 passes, 1 pass, or 0 passes per day, regardless of the limits enabled in Settings.
For a walkthrough on how to set these up, check out the article Limit Hall Pass Use with No Party Groups, Blackouts, and Restricted Pass Lists.
View Adoption and Usage in Reports
See how your Students and Staff are adopting Hall Passes by using key reports:
Top Staff Report: See which Teachers/Staff are allowing students to create hall passes in their classroom, or are also assigning hall passes themselves for students.
Note: The setting Must assign a teacher to hall passes has to be turned on in Settings to enable this reporting and to accurately track which Teacher approved each pass.
Top Students Report: See which students are using the most Hall Passes. Click the View Summary icon next to the student to see a breakdown of who granted their hall passes (Top Staff) and which hall passes they use (Top Hall Passes). Click the View Pass History icon to view all previous passes granted for the student
Post Roll Out Best Practice
Post Roll Out Best Practice
After 2-3 weeks of allowing free use of Hall Passes, it's time to identify any problem areas:
Navigate to the Reports tab within Hall Pass
View the total number of passes used and the total time spent out of the classroom in the summary reports for Top Users, Top Creators and Top Hall Pass reports
Adjust filter to search by date range, Name/ID/Email, or Type
For a deep dive into Hall Pass Reports, refer to the Hall Pass Reporting article.
Troubleshooting
Troubleshooting
Issue: Students cannot see the option to create a self-assigned hall pass.
Solution: If students cannot see the option to create a self-assigned hall pass, verify that the Allow Student Creation toggle is turned on for that specific pass type. To fix this, navigate to Settings > Hall Pass, click on the affected pass type, change the Allow Student Creation toggle to ON, and click Save.
FAQs
FAQs
Who can configure or modify school-wide hall pass settings in Minga?
Only users with the role of Owner can configure or modify school-wide hall pass settings in Minga by navigating to Settings > Hall Pass in the primary navigation menu. Users assigned to Manager, Teacher, or Student roles do not have permission to access or change these administrative configuration settings.
How do I require students to choose a specific teacher when creating a hall pass?
You can require students to choose a specific teacher when creating a hall pass by navigating to Settings > Hall Pass and toggling the Students Must Assign a Teacher to a Pass switch to ON. This configuration forces the student to select an approved staff member before the platform will activate their digital pass.
Can I limit how many active hall passes are allowed across the entire school at one time?
You can limit how many active hall passes are allowed across the entire school at one time by entering a maximum number into the Global Pass Limit field within Settings > Hall Pass. Once the active pass count reaches this number, Minga blocks students from generating new self-assigned passes until an existing pass is closed.
How do I disable student self-creation for specific pass types like an administrative or office pass?
You can disable student self-creation for specific pass types by selecting the desired pass from the configuration list in Settings > Hall Pass and turning the Allow Student Creation toggle to OFF. This restriction ensures that only users with Owner, Admin, Manager, or Teacher roles can issue that specific pass type to a student.
Resources