Hallway traffic turns chaotic when every teacher invents their own pass system. Hall Pass gives your school a shared live board, custom pass types (bathroom, nurse, office), optional point costs, and rules that travel with linked student accounts.
One Board for the Whole Campus
School leaders enable Hall Pass once, then teachers issue passes from the class view. The Live board refreshes on a short interval so office staff and teachers can see who is out without radioing every hallway.
School-level tabs keep policy in one place:
Live board — active passes with countdowns
Settings — default duration and max concurrent passes
Pass types — bathroom, nurse, office, and custom types
Approvals — ban / no-party requests that need a leader’s OK
Active rules — bans and grouping restrictions that stay enforced
This pairs cleanly with behavior tracking and classroom management tools when hallway time is part of your PBIS story.
Pass Types With Their Own Timers
Pass types tab listing Bathroom (10 min · free) and the create-type form.
Create types with a name, duration, and optional point charge so a bathroom trip and a nurse visit do not share the same clock.
Settings apply when a type does not override duration — default minutes, optional destination requirement, and school-wide or per-destination caps.
Teachers Issue; Leaders Govern
Class Hall Pass tab; when school-level Hall Pass is off, teachers see a prompt to ask a leader to enable it.
From a class Hall Pass page, teachers pick a student and pass type when the feature is enabled for the school. Leaders keep the kill switch — Disable hall passes — and review bans or no-party requests before they take effect.
First-Week Rollout
1. School leader opens School → Hall Pass and enables the feature
2. Add at least one pass type (start with Bathroom)
3. Set a sensible default duration under Settings
4. Have one teacher issue a test pass and watch the live board
5. Introduce bans / no-party rules only after the basic loop is smooth
You do not need every rule on day one. A live board and one pass type already replace most clipboard systems.
Why sticky notes fail
A paper pass on the door tells you someone left. It does not tell the office how long they have been gone, whether two students are already out, or whether this student is banned from unsupervised hallway time. Teachers invent timers in their heads. Substitutes inherit none of it.
A live board with a countdown is the same information, visible campus-wide, without radioing the hallway.
Bathroom vs nurse vs office
Start with Bathroom at a short default (often 5–10 minutes) and no point cost. Add Nurse with a longer clock so a real visit is not treated like a stall. Add Office only after leaders agree it should be tracked the same way.
Optional point costs are for classrooms that already run an economy — not as a bathroom tax on day one. If you charge points, say so on the pass type and keep the amount small.
Caps that prevent hallway parties
School defaults for duration, destination requirement, and max active passes.
Max concurrent passes (school-wide or per destination) is how you stop “half the class is out.” Bans and no-party rules come after the basic loop is a habit. If the class tab says to ask a leader to enable Hall Pass, that is policy — teachers should not have a shadow system.
Start with bathroom and nurse only
The live board fails when every destination is a custom novel. Launch two pass types with timers you believe: bathroom (short) and nurse (longer). Add office or water after a week of clean data. Caps exist so “the hallway party” is a settings problem you can turn down, not a lecture you repeat.
Teachers should issue; leaders should watch the board and the exceptions. If a teacher needs a sticky-note override every period, the duration is wrong — fix the type, do not shame the teacher.
FAQ
Does every teacher have to use it?
Once the school enables Hall Pass, teachers issue from the class tab. Leaders can disable the feature campus-wide if rollout is not ready.
Will this replace our PBIS hallway expectation?
No. It makes the expectation visible. Pair it with named positives like quietly in line so hallway behavior is taught, not only timed.
Ready for calmer hallways? Create a free account or enable Hall Pass for your school in Classroom Hero today.
What teachers see vs what leaders see
Leaders own enablement, default minutes, max concurrent passes, and bans. Teachers issue a pass type from the class Hall Pass tab when the school has turned it on. If the class tab tells you to ask a leader, that is the product working — not a bug. Start with Bathroom only. Add Nurse and Office after the live board is a habit.