ePass
The following information was sent as a Parent Skylert email in September. We're just sharing the information again to keep families informed!
Arrowhead High School recently implemented an electronic hall pass system (EDLASTICS - ElasticPass, also known as “ePass”). This system is designed to strengthen student safety, reduce classroom disruptions, and ensure accountability. A recent, inaccurate and intentionally devoid of facts news article by TMJ4 news has created an unnecessary storm of questions and concerns regarding the new system and, we want to provide context and accurate information to our community and families.
It is important to note that hall pass systems, whether paper or digital, are not matters of “policy.” The School Board governs at the policy level, while daily operational decisions are made by teachers and administrators. Just as staff determined that the paper-pass system was sufficient for decades, it was again a team of teachers and administrators who determined that the ePass system would be beneficial.
The decision came after identifying a clear concern: too many students were in the hallways during class and outside of the capacity of our teachers and administration to monitor and ensure a safe and appropriate facility. This contributed to vaping in bathrooms, vandalism, bullying and harassment, meeting up with friends, and other unsafe behaviors. Traditional paper passes cannot provide accurate information and data on where students are when they are not in class. Accurate information is critical for safety, learning, and liability reasons. If knowing when students are in class is important enough to dedicate staff to supervise and manage attendance, it is even more important to know where students are when they are not in class.
Every student in a classroom has a supervising teacher. Students in the hallways are unsupervised, and unsupervised students pose safety and liability concerns. Nothing good comes from students being unsupervised in hallways. The ePass system helps prevent unsafe behavior, and it is working. Another major benefit is that, in an emergency, administrators can determine where students are quickly and accurately. Paper passes cannot do that.
The system is not unusual. It has been implemented successfully in many schools across the country, including a number in Wisconsin and in our area. The limits in place were identified as the average among schools already using this system, are reasonable to accommodate students’ needs, and do not impact the significant majority of our students.
Some concerns have been raised about student restroom access. To be clear, Arrowhead students have more opportunities than most to use the facilities without needing a pass. Students also remain fully accommodated in cases of health needs or emergencies.
Facts About Student Access:
Students have 8 minute passing periods allowing for ample time to use the restrooms. Most schools have passing times of 4-5 minutes. The 8 minutes has proven to be sufficient for students to use the facilities and get to class. Again, compared to just about every other area school, Arrowhead provides TWICE the amount of time between classes to use the facilities and the vast majority of students have no problem going to the bathroom between classes.
All students can use the restrooms during study hall time and it does not count against their pass limit.
Students can use the restrooms at lunch without a pass.
Any student with Phy Ed classes can use the restrooms at the beginning and end of class.
All staff can override the limits as appropriate, especially for any extenuating situations or emergencies.
Students with specific health needs were already, and are absolutely accommodated.
The longest a student would ever have to go without access to a restroom is 85 minutes. They have passes available during instructional time to accommodate those needs.
If students need more passes, they are not denied access to the restrooms; we work with the student and families to determine how to best move forward.
To this point in our school year, we have had zero issues of discipline in the halls and/or bathrooms which is a significant improvement from past years with over a dozen documented issues at this time last year.
The vast majority of students are not impacted by the new pass system. They always have used the facilities during the opportunities described above and will continue to do so.
Arrowhead’s teachers and administrators are in the buildings daily, working with nearly 1,800+ students. Our obligation is two-fold: to keep students as safe as possible and to ensure they are learning in rigorous, supportive environments. The ePass system helps us achieve both goals in a cost-effective way.
Preventing poor decisions and risky situations is always better than reacting after harm occurs. A system that minimally impacts most students, but improves supervision, reduces classroom interruptions, and provides useful data, is a common-sense approach. Importantly, students with legitimate needs continue to be accommodated, just as they always have been.
We know parents and community members care deeply about students—we do too. We want what is best for them, and everything we do is designed to make sure they are safe and receiving the best possible education. We treat our students as if they were our own children.
The ePass system is one tool among many that helps Arrowhead deliver on that responsibility. By reducing unsupervised time, ensuring safety in emergencies, and keeping classrooms focused on learning, the system benefits the entire school community.
