THE ECHO

By Gage Armstrong // Reporter

It seems that just about every semester a new policy comes to AHS. This semester, it’s SmartPass.

But why SmartPass? How come this is a necessity? Assistant Principal Jim Graham said that Avon Community School’s safety coordinator, Deborah Swain’ Bayless, proposed the idea after a security consultation with teachers.

According to Bayless, teachers had issues with a “high number of students in the hallways with a lot of the same kids in the hallways all the time, and just in general, they were getting the feeling that it seems like our hallways are constantly churning.”

Graham explained that Covid was a reason for the implementation of SmartPass. Health safety wasn’t the only part, however. Graham said that he doesn’t want AHS to fall behind the times. The idea of paper passes is now an outdated topic for AHS.

“The faculty knew it was going to be an electronic system, because every school in the next five years is going to be on a system that’s electronic,” Graham said.

One of the highlights of SmartPass, according to Graham, is its malleability. SmartPass has already gone under several changes just after its implementation.

“If the faculty find that students cannot go to club meetings, if students can’t use the restroom, that students can’t do the things they need to do to be awesome, we will change the system,” Graham said.