More Schools Begin Shift To Digital Hall Passes
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- From stealing soap dispensers to smacking teachers, schools across the U.S. have experienced vandalism and violence this school year through TikTok challenges.
Because of this, some schools had to come up with better ways to keep track of what students are doing when they leave the classroom. And for many, this means ditching the old chalkboard eraser hall pass and switching to a more digital-age alternative.
Enter, the digital hall pass.
Thomas Knight, the principal of Founder's Hall Middle School in McKeesport, told KDKA that the school implemented a system called SmartPass and it's been working pretty well.
"We were able to get it up and running towards the beginning of November. It's worked well for us. It's allowed us to be able to track how long a student has been in the hallway or if there are different students in the hallway or how frequently they might be out," said Knight.
Knight said when issues arise, the digital pass has allowed school leaders to pinpoint who was in the hallway when the incident happened and narrow down who they need to talk to. It has also helped improve education by making sure students are spending more time in the classroom.
The new system has received some mixed reviews from parents who have raised security concerns over downloading the app on students' phones.
But Knight told KDKA that students are only being encouraged to download the hall pass to their school-sanctioned Google Chromebooks. He also said only school sign-in information can be used to log in and only the school has access to the information on the app.
According to the website of the Philadelphia-based company, SmartPass does not use GPS tracking. It's basically just a digital record-keeping system where students sign in and out for set periods of time approved by their teachers.
Founders Hall students also have to wear a physical hall pass when in the hallway, so monitors know they're permitted to be out of the classroom.
To read more about how this digital hall pass works, click here.
