The faculty and administration at RMHS have changed their pass system for the 25’-26’ school year and have replaced SmartPass with paper passes.
This change was made to help to ensure student safety and accountability, help staff know where students are at all times, and reduce disruptions to keep the building running smoothly. Teachers at RMHS have fully abandoned the online SmartPass system and are now exclusively using paper passes.
This change also means the librarian will be implementing paper passes for study and flex. Students will go to the library. They will receive a colored pass based on what class they are in or coming from. Once they receive this pass, they go to the class that they are leaving and show the teacher making sure that they know where they are going. To get passes for these locations or another classroom for flex, a pass must be obtained by the teachers of those rooms in advance.
Most students dislike the new paper pass system and don’t think it was a good change. “I don’t think paper passes are better. And I think it’s pointless, because you have to go to a classroom to get a pass, but you have to have a pass to go to the classroom,” Addy Matthews (‘26) said.
Most teachers disagree with this though, and especially the librarian who has seen a breakdown in the electronic pass process in the past. “I feel like it’s helping to make students more accountable to actually come. I was running into towards the end of SmartPass, lots of kids who would make the pass, get it approved and not come. But now they have to physically bring me back the pass and end up actually coming,” Ms. Moylan stated.
Assistant Principal Buckley pointed out some flaws in any pass system even though she supports the new paper pass switch. “I think that the benefits of an accountability system is only as good as everyone who uses it. So I think that the SmartPass has some shortcomings, and so we’re trying a new system,” Ms. Buckley said.
Principal Callanan had a similar opinion that the SmartPass system was not better than a paper pass one, which is why the administration reallocated money. “I used the money in another program that teachers wanted called Albert.io. I thought that was just better use of the money rather than a pass system we weren’t really using,” Ms. Callanan stated.
Albert.io is an application that gives teachers resources that help them with test preparation, practice material, assessments and more to help students learn better.
Other schools are using different pass software, rather than SmartPass. Opinions of those softwares are similar to the SmartPass experience of the students in RMHS. “E-hallpass is the bane of my existence,” said Anthony S, a student from Arlington Catholic.
There are many mixed opinions about the change on the new pass system and the community will have to wait to see if the paper pass system continues into next year.
