TRHS Community Letter on SmartPass

Dear TRHS Community Members,

Over the last several months, Timberlane Regional High School has been researching solutions to help keep our school community safe and secure. One of the measures that we are taking is implementing the SmartPass digital hallway system to evaluate its success for the duration of the 2021-2022 school year and, if it is seen to have a positive impact, rollout fully for the 2022-2023 school year. This is a system that is being used in several neighboring communities with success and comes highly recommended by other local districts..

Beginning in March, Timberlane Regional High School will begin using the digital hall pass system SmartPass.

What is SmartPass?

SmartPass is a digital version of the sign-out sheet and paper passes (which we currently use). The digital version allows staff and administration to see a real time list of which students are in the hallway and out of the classroom, so every student is accounted for digitally. SmartPass does not have a GPS tracking system, rather it holds the same information that a paper pass would, just without the physical pass. It provides administrators an accounting of which students are outside of the classroom during the school day and will help us ensure that our students are safe.

In case of emergencies such as fires, severe weather, or building intruders, administrators have real-time access to this critical information. Beyond the uses for emergency situations, the transition from physical passes to digital will also make it easier to limit hallway activity and keep our halls and bathrooms safer and more secure and help reduce pass requests, leading to more instructional time for students.

Students and staff can access SmartPass from their school-provided device. Students do not need a personal device, though there is an app that can be used by students and staff if they would like.

For more information, please visit the vendor’s website at https://www.smartpass.app/faq.

Parent/Guardian questions? Please use this Google Form to submit questions and we will get back to you soon!

Sincerely,

Ashley Harbel

Assistant Principal

Timberlane Regional High School