The ULTIMATE Hallway Pass Tracker with Google App Scripts

This is the ULTIMATE best version of a hall pass system for the every-teacher. 

Here’s why– it has scripts. 

This version keeps the most recent students’ data at the top of the sheet so that you don’t have to scroll to the bottom of the responses. It sorts it in real time. 

In a separate tab, it keeps a tally of who has used the Restroom and how many times. This way, you can easily see who might be using the restroom excessively. You can program this page to clear out daily or keep a weekly total, whatever suits your fancy – ( I have already written the scripts and show you how to set these up in the document).

This feature allows all teachers on your team to see how many times a student has been out for the restroom in a day, allowing you to help students stay in class more often.

• As a team, this system works well because you know who the high-fliers are. IE. You know who shouldn’t be out of the classroom at the same time because they meet up in the restrooms. You know those who are consistently out of class for way too long. You as a team need to be able to review this data together in real time. 

I’ve even included an optional script that you can use to send an email automatically when a student has been out over a threshold number of times. This could go to an admin or someone who needs to know in your organization.

Additionally, I’ve included a script and directions for how to back up the document as often as you like automatically to a folder in your drive via the Drive API V3. You can share the document – useful for counselors and admin who want to go back and see the data. This keeps the active form relevant to the time period you want so it doesn’t get backlogged as you use it. 

THIS DESIGN WORKS BEST IF:

• You are a smaller scale school or grade level (probably works best with under 200 per grade level or 500 per school). It can also be used by a solo teacher.  

• You know you’re not getting the fancy, expensive software (SmartPass)-- the school’s not going to pay for it, or you don’t have time to find out.

• You need to track and document this kind of data on a larger scale for a large amount of time.

• You don’t want to have to try to enter this stuff into an Excel doc – you know NO ONE will do that job. 

• You’re willing to put in roughly 30 mins to install the scripts and enter your students into this form, then see everything run automatically.

TECH SPECS:

If you use a Google Workplace account with the entire Google Suite and you’re using the most recent version, which uses Google Drive API V3, that's all you need!

SECURITY

Sharing the document only with your team and organization keeps the information safe. 

Permissions are everything with these types of documents. They are secured by Google, so you don’t need to worry about scripts being an issue. They are a part of Google Sheets tool that most people don’t know how to use. The Google Drive API allows you to back-up your documents automatically (communicating between Sheets and your Drive). 

Working together: If you add your colleagues as collaborators on the form, they can add notes to the document. (I show you how to do this in the guide)

Look, I have reviewed all of the options. The open software isn’t as easy to use as this is, and you’d have to get it approved. I’ve even built my own software to handle these issues when I worked through the Flatiron Software Bootcamp (proud 2022 alum!). I know that this is the best solution for small scale, immediate impact, problem-solving out-of-class behaviors, using the software you already have on hand and which is already secure. 

WHAT YOU GET

You’ll get a pdf with links to copy the form, Google scripts, and 5 videos that show you have to set up the document, set up permissions, and install the scripts (which you can customize with Google Scripts triggers).

I’m offering it for 9 dollars. I’m still in the classroom, and I’m trying to help us all do this work smarter, faster, better. This money is helping me to buy fancier, healthier microwave lunches. THANK YOU! 

You can use it individually, as a whole team, or as a school. It’s definitely worth it. It won’t solve all your problems, but it’s probably better than what you’re already using.

ENJOY!