As of now, South Windsor High School administrators are considering the replacement of physical hall passes with digital versions at South Windsor High School in an attempt to prevent “meet ups” in the halls and bathrooms during class hours.
South Windsor High School administrators are exploring the possibility of SmartPass’ digital hall pass and bathroom pass for all teachers, with some teachers already testing the option.
“I am optimistic that this will be more efficient than a physical hall pass and put onus on students to manage their comings and goings,” English and Journalism teacher, Ms. Quinn said.
The digital hall passes create an online “waiting list” that allows teachers to see who is out, when they left, how long they will be out, and who is waiting to go next. This allows teachers to prevent students notorious for meeting up from both leaving at the same time across different classes, meaning teachers across the school can see where you are supposed to be.
The SmartPass cannot track your actual location, but allows teachers to have a good idea of where you may be.
In addition to these features, SmartPass also adds up how much class time you’ve missed throughout the school year.
At the premium level, SmartPass has an AI that allows the teachers to see which students meet up more frequently when out of the classroom. The school could utilize this feature to make sure students aren’t leaving the class to meet up with friends by tracking the students’ supposed whereabouts.
However, news of the change has received major backlash from students with a variety of reasons.
“I think it is a waste of resources. The resources could be allocated to better things,” senior Hadi Mawla said. “To my understanding it is just a fancy timer that allows teachers to report students who have exceeded an allotted time.”
Some students also see this change as an overreaction to an easily solved problem.
“I think it is a little harsh,” senior Sebastian Valasquez said. “Once you go over the threshold, the teacher can report you. That is so serious for no reason.”
Though not officially implemented, students have strong feelings about testing this new pass system.
The question remains to be seen is this truly in the best interest of students?
