THE ECHO

By Jackson Zeunik // Co-Editor-in-Chief

Avon High School unveiled a new hall pass system that operates electronically; the system tracks the amount of time students take and which rooms they leave and arrive at. The system was rolled out starting after winter break. 

Assistant Principal Jim Graham addresses concerns around SmartPass and why the administration rolled out this new system. Dr. Graham said the main reason for the system was to ensure that who is in the building and hallways, and if their supposed to be there. 

“Even as an administrative team, as large as we are, we can’t see everything that’s happening at all times,” said Dr. Graham. “So teachers are a huge help with that, they reported one of their largest concerns was that our hallways seem to always have people in them, and that we’re never really sure if they’re supposed to be in the hallway.” 

SmartPass was rolled out to ensure safety, Dr. Graham said, and not a way to control students or prevent them from getting the help they need. 

“SRT has a lot of movements in this school like I said, this isn’t supposed to control movement. So, we want people going to take their tests. We want people going to get help with something,” Dr. Graham said. 

Dr. Graham said the data gathered is being put to good use, helping to maximize school safety but also to make the transition to SmartPass as easy as possible. 

“We’re kind of looking to see, we had a limit we just had to pick one in the dark, that was how many students do we want in the hallways at one time? We put it at 30 because we literally picked the number out of a wall,” said Dr. Graham. “So the 30 went up to 40, and then the 40 went up to 80.” 

Student reactions have been mixed, according to students. Freshman Brady Row said he finds the system frustrating and can slow down classes. 

“it’s just kind of like, annoying because in the old days you would just like, ask to use the bathroom, and the teachers let you go, and then you would come back and just like, do your thing. And now you got to, like, open your laptop, type all this stuff out, and then you only have like, five minutes,” Row said.

SmartPass’ bathroom pass system has students set to a strict 5-minute timer that cannot be changed. Row said he worries about the time limit and what the consequences of constantly being on a timer could be. 

“What if you, like, have an emergency or something, and you’re there long in the five minutes, it’s kind of done admin sees your over and now you’re in trouble because whatcha going to do,” Row said.