Gone are the days of the archaic paper hall pass, and the era of the new SmartPass hall pass system is here. In a school year of experimental changes, one of the biggest modifications to the way the school functions is a brand new system for asking to go to the bathroom. It may seem a bit odd and unnecessary, but assistant principal Dr. Stephanie Grisham states that it protects valuable class time.
“We were seeing lots of students being out of class and losing instructional time because they’re going to the bathroom, going you know, here, there, wherever, vending machines, all that kind of stuff. And so we wanted to implement something to protect some instructional time,” Grisham said.
This new system discourages students from flippantly getting a pass and leaving class by adding a few extra steps to the process. History teacher Amanda Jarrett reflects on this idea.
“They’re more hesitant to ask to go, [only if] they really need to go. If they’re asking me, I figure it’s because they really need to go to the bathroom, instead of just ‘I’m bored, I’m gonna go pick up a pass and go to the bathroom,’” Jarrett said.
However, these extra steps to get out of class are a double-edged sword. While they help keep kids in class who shouldn’t be out of class, they also make the process harder for those who actually need to go places. Sophomore Jayde Lungstrum expounded upon this idea with her own experiences.
“I think it takes a really long time to create the pass, and that seems kind of flawed to me, because in the time that it takes me to make a pass, I could have already used the restroom and come back,” Lungstrum said.
The new system also allows for teachers to know where their students are, which is incredibly useful for safety reasons, and can help teachers remember where they sent students.
“[It’s helpful] just for the ease of knowing where their student is, because they can just pull it up and look…hey don’t have to question about whether, you know, did I send them to Miss Green’s room, or did I send them to Coach Croft’s room? You know, all they have to do is pull up the screen and see where they are,” Jarrett said.
The system will be evolving, growing and likely changing slightly throughout the year. There’s bound to be some growing pains and some things to get used to, but Grisham is open to making improvements and changes that will hopefully make the process less stressful.
“We haven’t gotten into analyzing data to see if we [can] kind of change some of that, maybe [we’ll extend to] to six minutes or something like that. We’re just trying to get used to it right now. You know, get everybody on board and get used to the process,” Grisham said
