In effort to improve student accountability and safety, and to incorporate a spirit-boosting rewards system, BOHS has adopted the 5-Star Students app for the 2025-2026 school year.
Students use the platform – accessed from their phones – to store a virtual ID, earn points and rewards for positive behavior, and check themselves into school events like football games, rallies, and club meetings. The app also serves as a digital hall pass that teachers and campus supervisors can scan.
Cumulatively, the features provide “safety, efficiency, and accountability,” according to Bryson Burns, assistant principal.
In prior years, passes varied from teacher-to-teacher – from sign-out sheets, to hand-written notes, to lanyards – which made tracking each student’s whereabouts during class time a challenge for administrators. Students wandered campus unsupervised, met up with friends, and on multiple occasions in 2024 and 2025, vandalized bathrooms.
The app, with its five-minute time limit on restroom use and an administrator’s ability to “instantly see which students are out of class,” will discourage lingering and allow monitoring of student activity during class time according to Burns.
Burns believes that visibility is critical “in the event of an emergency or lockdown situation” as the app tracks student check-ins across campus in real time; allows staff to quickly verify student identities via digital ID; and send campus-wide alerts.
Some teachers have already noticed improved accountability with the new app.
“I prefer 5-Star for hall passes instead of the lanyards and paper passes I used to use,” Alex Koers, Literature and Composition 1 teacher, said. “My students seem to be holding themselves accountable for returning to class within the five-minute window, whereas with the paper passes they tended to meander.”
Gil Rotblum, history teacher, agrees that the app encourages accountability. “I always had issues with students wandering in the hallways and doing things they shouldn’t do,” Rotblum said, “but now I can see who’s been out of class for too long.”
Math teacher Matthew Finnerty is also a fan of the new technology. “I like the fact that it helps communication, integrating technology, allowing teachers to keep track, and also just helps students learn how to hold accountability for their actions,” Finnerty said. Beyond its functions as hall monitoring tool, the 5-Star Students app also incentivizes positive behavior through a rewards system.
“Students involved in games, clubs, rallies, volunteering – this will all turn into points, recognition, and rewards,” Burns announced at the sophomore WILD assembly Aug. 15.
For Bianca Hernandez (‘26), the appeal of the app is the perks. “The rewards are definitely fun, and obviously, who doesn’t like free stuff? I think it’ll be able to motivate me to be more involved in the school,” Hernandez said.
Thus far, students have used the app to check into events such as back-to-school registration, athletic contests, and even detention sessions, earning points that automatically accumulate to their virtual ID.
According to Burns, these points can then be used to redeem rewards such as a senior parking space, participation as a passing-period DJ, and enjoying VIP access — early access and avoiding lines, for example — at school events.
Abraham Baltodano (‘26), for instance, is hoping to use his points on a valuable extra parking pass for graduation, which is a reward available to the top five point-earners in the senior class.
Other functions of the app include voting polls – from voting for ASB class officers to voting for Homecoming court princesses – and school-assigned surveys to enhance student involvement on campus.
The rollout of the app hasn’t been without challenges, however.
Some students, like Blakeley Qualls (‘28), are worried about the invasiveness of the tracking feature. “I would feel like I’m constantly being watched,” Qualls said, “and it feels like a violation to my privacy.”
For Emily Böhmwald (‘26), the app is confusing to operate due to lack of training. Students were introduced to the app and its operations in a July 25 email from Burns and at the Aug. 15 WILD assembly. However, that was inadequate to fully understand the app and its functions, according to Böhmwald. “I feel like there was little information shared about it,” Böhmwald said.
But for others, the new system shows promise.
Sayan Gonzorig (‘27) has prior experience with 5-Star from participating in ASB at Troy High School before transferring to BOHS this fall. “5-Star helped with taking notes of who came to all the school events like dances and games, and this helped ASB a lot,” Gonzorig said.
Also optimistic about 5-Star is Verronica Clements, AP Seminar teacher.
“While I do think it’s too soon to say 5-Star will be efficient for me, I also generally prefer anything technology-based compared to the old system,” Clements said. The veteran English teacher believes it will be easier to have discussions with parents about school participation “because the system is so transparent and easy to access.”
Biology teacher Rebecca Stavert highlighted how the 5-Star system makes her classroom much easier to manage. “I’ve just been using it for bathroom passes, and I like that I can quickly see who’s out of class, how long they’ve been gone, and even if they frequently leave another classroom,” Stavert said. “Honestly, I really like scanning with the barcode – it’s kind of fun.”
According to Burns, participation, which is expected of each BOHS student, is currently between 50% and 59% for each class. (The junior class has the most downloads at 59%, with the senior class the least, at 49%.)
Students can download the app for free at both the Apple App Store and Google Play by searching “5-Star Students,” then selecting Brea Olinda High School, and signing in using their school-issued @mybousd.us account to access all features.
