Torrington High School has decided to move away from the paper passes that have been used here for forever. THS is going to start using electronic passes in the upcoming weeks. There are many different reasons for this, but will it be for better or for worse?

Torrington Middle School has been using electronic passes for the entire 24’-25’ school year, and it has worked smoothly for them as they have had “good experiences with it,” according to Mr. Scott. 

Mr. Scott reported that the main factors in choosing electronic passes were the safety of the students. With electronic passes, staff know where all the students are all the time and keeps a better track of everyone. 

The environmental and costly parts of paper passes were also heavily considered. The school goes through a whole lot of paper on a daily basis, including hundreds of passes a day. The cost also gets expensive with the amount of paper passes everyone uses. We frequently need to purchase more passes, which is quite the expense. 

Mr. Scott doesn’t think that we will ever return to paper passes “unless we run into significant issues.” There are cons to the system, such as internet and connectivity issues we face daily. There are also possible issues with the system on the MacBooks. Other districts that have switched to electronic passes mostly use Chromebooks. 

There are many pros mentioned earlier, but from what we know, TMS has had a smooth ride and no significant issues with paper passes. 

I would rather have paper passes due to the ease of just filling it out. I think that having electronic passes will over-complicate things, and I can see problems happening. Maybe I’m just stubborn? I guess time will tell!