Lily Bossoletti

What’s on many teachers boards since the implementation of Minga

From paper passes to strange sculptures, school hall passes are continuously changing and with the recent introduction of Minga, a digital hall pass system where students must request a pass through an app, Buena students and staff are having to adapt to this new method.

Both students and teachers are capable of creating a Minga pass through the app on their phone or their school provided chromebook. Once a Minga pass is created, the students name and what time they checked out of class is added to an online list where administration and campus supervisors can see which students are out of the classroom. 

“It came out of a place of necessity. It was not, ‘let’s figure out what technology we can use,’”  Assistant Principal of Technology Tina Perez said. 

Minga relieves the added task that teachers have of monitoring who is in the bathroom, who is going from class to class, and how long a student has been out. It allows teachers to focus more on their curriculum and  less on administrative tasks of who needs to use the restroom.

“[While] it is not as easy as saying ‘just take the pass’… I feel like people are less likely to go if they are going out to cruise around; it is cutting down a little bit,”English teacher Kathrine Loughman said.

The technology also created a different sense of independence for some students as well. 

“Since the passes are on a timer, it is very easy to see if someone’s abusing it or not,” math teacher Micheal Stewart said. “I [also] like that the students can make their own passes and it puts a little bit more responsibility on them when they’re wanting to leave class.”

Minga passes are also allowing for a higher level of safety throughout campus.One example of this extends to students’ wellness. 

“There have been instances where kids have not felt well in class, they ask their teacher to go to the restroom, and then end up passing out because they do not feel well,” Perez said. With Minga, teachers and administration can monitor exactly how long a student has been out of class and check in on them on campus if they are out for too long. 

While Minga is welcomed on the administrative side, the student perspective is much different. Many feel that it is overbearing and unnecessary for many students. 

“It sucks,” sophomore Ryan Homan said. “It feels like the kids that would wander around ruined it for the rest of us .”

A majority of students are feeling similarly and do not feel that Minga is needed. Some find the idea that there is a website tracking who is out and for how long is seen as an invasion of privacy. 

“I think that they are trying to integrate technology where it is not needed,” senior Emil Hernandez said. “I know that some people tend to wander but it feels like they are trying to over engineer something super simple.” 

Mingas’ departure from the typical way of hall passes is something that students and staff are still working out. The timer on the virtual pass has already been adjusted from five minutes to eight minutes and administration are still looking for ways to improve it for the Buena community.

“We do encourage feedback though,” Perez said. “That’s the only way that we can make it better for the teachers and the students.”