For decades, when you wanted to go to the bathroom during class, you took a paper pass or a lanyard with you. The pass represented that you had permission to be in the halls. However, in this digital age that we live in, this system is in midst of change here at Morris Hills.
When MH students returned from their spring break, they witnessed a new pilot program pass system called SmartPass being implemented for the 4th marking period. SmartPass was brought to the Morris Hills Regional District (MHRD) by Dr. Toriello and the principal of Morris Knolls, Mr. MacNaughton. Having attended a meeting last year in which a SmartPass representative presented to principals of several school districts, the system “peaked their interest,” per Dr. Toriello. Dr. Toriello and Mr. MacNaughton then pursued bringing the system to Morris Hills and Morris Knolls by creating a SmartPass committee consisting of themselves and teacher representatives from each discipline and department.
The introduction of SmartPass for the 4th marking period intends to, in Dr. Toriello’s perspective, reveal the “positives, the negatives, [and] the challenges” of the system, and determine whether to implement the system full-time for the 2024-2025 school year. SmartPass only involves “changing the actual vehicle on what the pass looks like” and “adds another layer of security here in the building,” explains Dr. Toriello.
Students can access the SmartPass application either through their school-issued chromebook or their phone. When a student would like to go to the bathroom, or another location in the school, they create a digital pass on SmartPass that has a timer attached to it — currently defaulted to 10 minutes. The student then has 10 minutes to use the bathroom or go to the proper room, return, and then turn off the pass. Students in the pilot program can create an unlimited number of passes, but for the 2024-2025 school year, the SmartPass committee may decide to limit the number of passes to 4 a day, or 10 in a school week.
Dr. Toriello points to SmartPass as a way to ensure students are receiving the best education possible. If a student is in the halls a significant amount of time, during a parent meeting with a student with concerning grades, the administration could pull the SmartPass data to demonstrate how many times the student has been in the halls, and how much class time was spent outside of the classroom. SmartPass only accesses name, email, and yearbook photo from Aspen — all the other information is kept separate and inaccessible.
“I thank the students and staff for being open to it,” states Dr. Toriello. “Change is difficult,” but he appreciates the feedback from the Morris Hills body so far. Ujwal Thirunagari, senior, was skeptical of the SmartPass system at first as a potential “extra hassle,” but after using the system, he “was impressed that filling out the pass was relatively seamless and only involved clicking a few buttons.” However, Ujwal does not believe that the SmartPass system should be utilized in the future during lunch periods, if implemented next year. Will Forte, senior, sees the benefit in SmartPass trying to prevent intruders and people from vaping together in the bathroom, but would like limits on the type of data that the Smartpass company could collect via features like Encounter Detection, which can monitor student social interactions in the hallways.
The pass system is undergoing a revolution at Morris Hills, and regardless of the future changes to the system, the student body will work with the faculty and administration to make the school environment as safe as possible.