Embedded Files
Student signs out on a computer using SmartPass
By Leilani Nye
Managing Editor
Published Dec. 13, 2024
Upon returning to school this year, students and staff were introduced to SmartPass: an electronic pass that replaces traditional sign-out sheets.
With the SmartPass, students use a designated computer to sign out for the restroom, water fountain, and other school facilities. SmartPass is used to provide administrators with the whereabouts of their students outside of the classroom during school hours. Thus, the system aims to enhance campus safety, learning, and student accountability.
However, many questions have arisen regarding the practicality of this platform, and members of Konawaena’s community have mixed feelings.
On one hand, SmartPass is utilized as an efficient tool that minimizes classroom disruption, maximizes efficiency, and encourages student responsibility. Allowing students to use SmartPass, gives them a sense of accountability and strives to help students take initiative in their time outside of class. Additionally, some students believe it to be a sanitary alternative to handheld bathroom passes.
Many teachers believe it to be helpful to the flow of their class environment. When asked how SmartPass has helped her classroom, math teacher Ms. Amanda Weidlick stated, “I feel like normally for us it’s been really helpful because then a lot of students can just know where they are in line for the bathroom and it makes things go a little bit smoother.”
On the other hand, errors sometimes arise within the app, impeding its performance. One ELA teacher found that students were more inclined to go to the bathroom in groups of three or four, as SmartPass offers that option. Another flaw is that SmartPass mistakenly shows the same bathrooms as “available” when they are closed. These difficulties cause a hindrance to those who need a pass and create a distraction for other students.
Yet another pressing issue involves the privacy of students. When a student selects where they’re going, how long they need to take, and eventually, when they come back, SmartPass collects this data and the administration uses it.
However, Vice Principal Timm Henry said: “It’s not a dog tag. If you actually walk across campus, SmartPass doesn’t actually know that you did that.”
Why is this data important to the school in the first place? Consistently leaving the classroom establishes a pattern that makes the data important for the school to investigate. If utilized correctly, this information can be used to hold students accountable when they are not following school rules. About this, Ms. Weidlick said, “... It shouldn’t be all or nothing. I think it has to be us looking at it and seeing trends of ‘are they actually staying in class?’”
Nonetheless, this may pose a barrier for students who suffer from health issues and may need extra time in the bathroom/outside of class. ELA teacher, Mr. Weston Lamoreaux said, “I could see a teacher that is not aware — or somebody on the staff that is not aware — of a medical circumstance like that, maybe reacting in a negative way. And I could see on a student’s end, not wanting to share that information.”
Moreover, ELA teacher Karina Hernandez expressed her worries when it comes to the safety and privacy of female students.
“If I was a teenager and I had my period—the last thing I wanna do is let everybody know that I need to go, and if I have cramps and I take longer than 10 minutes, for someone to ask me and I have to tell them—that’s embarrassing for me as a young lady, if I was in someone’s shoes.
There are still a plethora of functions that SmartPass provides that, while helpful for teachers and administration, can be an obstacle for students. From a maximum of only 10 passes throughout the week, a “no-fly-zone” during the last 15 minutes of class time, and a difference in the maximum time out of class, where boys get a maximum of 7 minutes out, while girls get a maximum of 10 minutes out.
Senior Kaikea Tayamen said: “It’s not fair.”
In our day and age, we can see that technology is taking over the basic functions of our everyday lives. While SmartPass is expected to increase campus safety, student responsibility, and overall classroom flow, some students see it as an invasion of privacy and more of an obstacle than a helpful tool. The overall hope of teachers and administration is that the bathroom is a safer place for students and that the classroom becomes a more efficient environment. For now, SmartPass doesn’t just stop at restrooms and water fountains.
“There are more layers—by the beginning of fourth quarter no one’s gonna walk out of any classroom for any reason without using SmartPass and we’re wanting to do away with paper,” said Mr. Henry.
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