- In the midst of daily school life, the minga pass stands out like a sore thumb.
The Minga pass system, which is still fairly new, is a pass that allows students to go to the hallway. The controversy about the digital pass has begun increasing among students and admin. This year many students in the Leyden district consider the pass to be an unfair system. While a large number of administrators and teachers believe the digital pass is a success for West Leyden.
Before the Minga pass was established, teachers had to manually fill out paper passes for students. This made it difficult to track where a student may be in case of an emergency. Additionally, teachers began to face problems with interruptions during class. This would delay and disrupt the flow of the lesson.
According to Minga’s recent conference in Nashville, they determined the effectiveness of their digital passes to be a success, “Our nationwide data speaks volumes about the effectiveness of Minga. Spanning 43 states, nearly 17 million digital hall passes have been created, simplifying the management of student movement and ensuring a safer school environment. Additionally, 96% of students using Minga rely on their digital ID as their primary identification, underscoring the platform’s adoption and ease of use. Moreover, our progressive consequences automation has resulted in almost 300,000 automated detentions, streamlining disciplinary processes and reducing administrative burdens.” (Celebrating Minga’s Impact across the United States 23/24 School Year).
Minga’s website states that the Minga pass has been a step towards improving schools. Recently the Minga pass has received a lot of positive feedback from staff and students.
According to Ms.ONeil; Vice principal of West Leyden, is convinced that the Minga pass is crucial for staff and students, she says, “I have seen staff be able to support students better when they know the reason students are in the hall, and how long they have been in the hall, so having a digital pass with a timer we can see definitely helps us support students being in class and taking advantage of their time with teachers. I have also seen fewer lines and crowds at water fountains and in bathrooms than in previous years before Minga.”
To Ms.ONeil the Minga pass has greatly improved our school. It has caused less ruckus to occur during class and has even helped teachers keep watch on where their students are. She talks about the many positive outcomes that have occurred since the Minga pass was established.
Furthermore Mr. Chaidez; Global studies teacher, expresses, “ The Minga pass can use some improvements but it is something that people are still going to use in the future. Mainly because compared to last year, the bathroom passes are more organized. It’s also a good way to track people and see who’s leaving and who’s not, out of the room. Overall I think the Minga is a step towards improvement.”
Cobun Zweifel-Keegan;data privacy lawyer and managing director of the International Association of Privacy Professionals, describes the potential dangers of digital passes, “If you’re thinking of the minimum viable product here for a hall pass, they might need to know the student’s name and their student I.D. number,” he said. “Beyond that, make sure you’re checking up and asking questions like, ‘Does this additional piece of information actually add value to the service?’ That’s an important thing to follow up on when you’re talking to these vendors.” (Digital Hall Passes: Pros, Cons and Student Privacy Concerns)
Along with Mr.Chaidez, Ms. Lopez agrees that the Minga pass is a useful tool for Leyden staff. She explains, “I believe Minga is a good method of assigning passes to students. Teachers are able to see all the passes that are being used at one time and the length of the time. Minga is a good method for hallway passes because deans, counselors, teachers and other administrators are able to keep track of students and where they are during the school day.”
Nonetheless not all feedback from the Minga pass is positive.
Gabriella Galeno, a student at West Leyden, believes that the Minga pass time limit isn’t enough, “There’s only five minutes to use the restroom. And I feel like that’s not enough time to go to the bathroom, especially if it’s far from you. There’s also the problem of having to open your Chromebook and log into Minga to make a pass. So that takes a while rather than just getting a paper pass.”
Sophomore Lauren Jones, admits that the pass hasn’t brought any change to the school, “I think the Minga pass is not something beneficial to students. For example you can use the restroom for 10 minutes and a teacher will not care, nor will the deans. I’ve never seen a dean come or a security guard come and find a student that does that. I don’t really see what’s the deal with having a digital ID if stuff like this keeps happening.”
Student Athlete, Elizabeth Bonfil elaborates, “A thing I dislike about the Minga pass is how it blocks any passes for the start and last five minutes of class. Like, what if the class beforehand you did a test and you couldn’t go? I think they should take that off. Like, people should be able to go to the bathroom at every time of the class. Because, you know, you gotta go, you gotta go. No one should be restricting when I can use the restroom “
As controversial as the Minga pass may be, it has proven to be helpful while also being restrictive. But whether or not the Minga pass is disliked one thing is for sure: we will be seeing the Minga pass being used in the future, possibly with some improvements or tweaks.
Works Cited
“Digital Hall Passes: Pros, Cons and Student Privacy Concerns.” Campus Safety, 24 Feb. 2023, www.campussafetymagazine.com/podcasts/digital-hall-passes-pros-cons-student-privacy-concerns/119827/.
Accessed 2023.
“If you’re thinking of the minimum viable product here for a hall pass, they might need to know the student’s name and their student I.D. number,” he said. “Beyond that, make sure you’re checking up and asking questions like, ‘Does this additional piece of information actually add value to the service?’ That’s an important thing to follow up on when you’re talking to these vendors.”
“Celebrating Minga’s Impact across the United States 23/24 School Year.” Minga, Jan. 2023, minga.io/blog/celebrating-mingas-impact-across-the-united-states-23-24-school-year/. Accessed 2024.
Our nationwide data speaks volumes about the effectiveness of Minga. Spanning 43 states, nearly 17 million digital hall passes have been created, simplifying the management of student movement and ensuring a safer school environment. Additionally, 96% of students using Minga rely on their digital ID as their primary identification, underscoring the platform’s adoption and ease of use. Moreover, our progressive consequences automation has resulted in almost 300,000 automated detentions, streamlining disciplinary processes and reducing administrative burdens
