Locks are everywhere.

It’s Fashion, it’s safety, it’s everything.

Everywhere you go, there’s always something protecting someone’s personal treasures. When it comes to EPISD, our login passwords are padlocks on a safe full of district-approved applications. With a given username and birthday-related password, the safe was unlocked. It was no Ft. Knox, but it got the job done.

To people’s shock, near the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year, there had been a poorly announced password change to most students.

Whether it was discovered through social media or friends, the majority of EPISD students and staff were upset.

The addition of a new and weird password necessary for important applications used by students was not a smart move on the school’s part.

Many students agreed the change wasn’t helpful and left students vulnerable to others accessing their “e-mails and student portals.”

The new password is way too simple! Our passwords reduced to our users being flipped with some symbols and numbers that match with other students is a huge security oversight.

Now, you all might be wondering, “Why did this happen in the first place?! Our birthdays worked just fine.”

According to the clerk in the book room, a certain “someone” in a leadership position of Texas education (possibly TEA) came down on schools statewide for using birthdays as passwords.

Apparently, the use of birthdays as passwords is a breach of privacy and is illegal. The schools were given options including three choices: EPISD User, Student ID, and Building Numbers.

The school, district and state all agree that it was a bad time to do this, but they felt it was necessary option to fight against hacking and avoid breaking the law. The district’s choice out of many password options available to them was extremely odd.

The locks we once had, had suddenly been stripped away from us and replaced with new ones with an oddly shaped key. Who knew breaking the law made life so convenient?