This year, the East campus decided to use Smart passes.
5 interesting facts about the Smart pass policy is the smart pass app has been around since 2018. Over 2,500 k-12 schools use the Smart pass app. Smart passes cost between $2 and $5 per student. One last fact is that there is an amount of bathroom incidents on behavior and vandalism. In a random survey of 42 Morton East students, 31 said they don’t like the new Smart pass policy, but 11 did like it. Those that don’t like the policy say that 7 minutes is not enough time for a pass to the bathroom; some students may need more time out of class than others. And. they don’t think that the Smart passes have improved efficiency or reduced class disruptions. 23 out of those 42 students do believe that the Smart pass policy is changing the number of students in the hallways and bathrooms during class times. Interestingly, 39 students out of the 42 surveyed also think it’s not fair that students must use a Smart pass while teachers get to go whenever they want.
“The bathrooms are far from the theater class which leads students to go past the seven minutes.” Teacher Mr. Lubinus said.
However, if a student goes overtime on their pass occasionally, they will not get a consequence. The chronically overdue will be addressed on a case-by-case basis.
“If students constantly go over the smart pass limit, I’ll talk to them first and if nothing changes, I’ll start writing them up.” Ms. Garcia said.
And, exceptions will always be made for emergency situations.
“7 minutes is enough for the students. Obviously, emergencies can happen sometimes, which I think is understandable.” Ms. Kozlowski said.
The 7 minute pass is for bathroom breaks. Of course, students want more time.
“7 minutes isn’t enough for me because what if I have an emergency and I can’t make it back within the 7 minutes.” student Fatima Gaona said.
Another student agrees.
“I believe 7 minutes is not enough for me because sometimes the bathrooms are really crowded.” said Student Janet Rojas.
However, the bathrooms are actually much less crowded compared to last year — because of the Smart pass process.
“There have been some glitches as teachers and students learn to use it, but it’s getting better — more private for students and less overdue breaks — with every week,” said jouralism teacher Mr. Kent Frankfother.
Ideally, students don’t have to ask teachers “to go to the bathroom anymore.” It’s all very private.
“Get used to using it,” said journalism teacher Mr. Kent Frankfother. “It’s here to stay.”
