Students at Lakewood Ranch High School now punch in an ID code at a classroom computer every time they need to use the bathroom.

The school replaced its old clipboard sign-out sheets with an electronic hall pass system built on FOCUS, the student information platform already used districtwide, for the 2026-27 school year. Administrators say the switch was driven by the growing number of students on campus. The policy took effect during the first week of school, which began Tuesday.

Under the old system, students wrote their names on a clipboard pass and carried it to the restroom. Now, a dedicated computer in each classroom stays open to the FOCUS platform. Students enter their ID codes, select a destination and leave. When they return, they check back in with a single button click.

The result: precise timestamps for every exit and re-entry.

"We want to track students more accurately and help keep everyone safe," Assistant Principal Becky Satterly told the school's student news outlet, Mustangs Ahead.

Students can view their own pass history

Students can also see their own records. A "Hall Passes" tab in FOCUS displays every pass created during the year, total time spent out of class and any passes that exceeded the 10-minute limit.

Sophomore Zach Hait said the visibility changes behavior. He told Mustangs Ahead that students come back faster because they know they're being tracked, and he said he believes some classmates previously left class three to four times a day.

Art teacher Brianna Augustine-Carter said the system makes sense from a teacher's perspective because staff need to track students and prevent them from going missing.

Growth and a second high school factor into the timing

LRHS serves roughly 2,370 students in grades 9-12, according to school profile data, and the broader School District of Manatee County added about 300 new students in the 2025-26 school year. A second high school in Lakewood Ranch is planned to open in August 2027, which could ease crowding but also means more campuses will need consistent tracking tools.

FOCUS School Software, headquartered in St. Petersburg, built the Hall Pass module to provide real-time movement tracking and trend reporting on top of the district's existing student information system.

No review date or follow-up evaluation of the new policy has been announced.