STROUDSBURG, Pa. — The halls inside Stroudsburg High School are quiet for now, but in a matter of days, they'll once again be filled with students starting the first day of school, and this year students can do away with their paper hall pass.
The high school is using a new electronic pass system called SmartPass.
"It eliminates the use of a paper or cardstock pass that a student has for a quarter or 45 days, and it makes it more digital. So it increases efficiency for the teachers to sign a student out," said Stroudsburg High School Principal Jeffrey Sodl.
He says the new digital pass allows students to sign out of the classroom electronically – doing away with having to raise your hand, interrupting the teacher and the lesson to write a hall pass.
Sodl says this system will help administrators monitor where students are in case of an emergency.
"What it does allow us to do is limit the number of students that are in the halls at one time," Sodl said. "It allows us to look at if there are any type of harassment or bullying situations."
Each of the classrooms will have a laptop equipped with the new technology. All a student has to do is submit a request, and the teacher will approve it.
"It actually gives them, students, more of an opportunity to use the restrooms or get a drink or go to their locker than the paper pass that they had before," he said.
While Sodl says he's received some concerns from parents who believe the app is tracking students, he says this will help keep students safe.
"We're not tracking students down the hallway," Sodl said. "No one is doing that or into the bathroom. We're looking for information to make the school safer and to make it increase efficiency in academics because we'll know when they're out of class and if they're out of class too much."
Sodl says SmartPass will also allow teachers or students to schedule a request for extra help in class.
If all goes well, district officials may look to implement the system district-wide.
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