SHS introducing attendance, hall pass tech

SANDPOINT — As a new semester begins, Sandpoint High School is implementing technology designed to increase student accountability, address in-school truancy and more accurately tabulate attendance. 

Beginning Feb. 10, students who arrive at the building late will bring receipts to teachers to be recognized as tardy. Additionally, all students at the school will start using SmartPass — a digital hall pass system — to request and receive permission to leave class during instructional time.

Currently, students needing to leave class to use the restroom or perform another task request permission from their teacher and take one of two physical hall passes in each classroom. The amount of time allotted is up to teachers; if a student misses an unreasonable amount of class time, administrators may contact a parent or guardian. 

The digital hall pass system will allow students to denote their intent to leave class through an app on their school-issued computer, and after receiving verbal confirmation from their teacher, leave the room. 

While the student is out of class, administrators, campus safety officers and their teacher will be able to see their stated destination and ensure they stay on task. The system’s default setting will give students five minutes to return to class, but SHS administrators say the time window can be adjusted at teachers’ discretion. 

“We’re really just refining what we already do and making it more efficient,” assistant principal Chris Taylor said. “There are really no changes. It just lets us monitor who's abusing the time the most.” 

Administrators are choosing to implement the new system, Taylor said, to better fulfill their goal of ensuring parents or guardians know whether their student is in class. 

“The one thing we don't communicate with parents is if their student is truant, but on campus,” Taylor said. 

The change to SHS’ tardy system, also to be implemented Feb. 10, will involve the replacement of a physical sign-in sheet with a scanner and printer. Currently, students who arrive at SHS after the bell stop at the front office and fill out a sheet designating them as tardy that is later submitted to teachers. 

With the new technology, students will scan their ID cards at the front desk and immediately receive a printed receipt. They can then take the ticket to their teacher, who can directly update their attendance log. 

The change aims to address a loophole in which students can sign the sheet at the office and never show up to class but still be marked as having attended. 

“That way, students can't just sign in and then walk right back out and say they were tardy,” Taylor said. 

Taylor also noted that the existing system often creates a long line of students waiting to sign the sheet each morning, which further delays them from joining class. 

“It will speed up the time it takes to sign in,” Taylor said. 

In conjunction with the new system, administrators have expressed an intent to more strictly enforce the use of student IDs to enter the building. After the morning bell rings, SHS’ outer doors lock; students must identify themselves and be buzzed in by office staff to enter the building. 

Going forward, students will have to show ID cards to the camera by the door to confirm their identities. If a student forgets or loses their card, they’ll still be allowed to enter, but will need to receive a new ID, which costs $5 per card after an initial free replacement. Administrators hope to implement a digital ID option as well in the future. 

“It’s strictly from a safety standpoint,” SHS principal Jacki Crossingham said of the ID enforcement. “It's just part of student responsibility.” 

Crossingham emphasized the importance of hearing feedback from students and stakeholders regarding the changes and reiterated the goals of improving safety and increasing instructional time for students. 

“When we shared these with students, we were also very clear that we understand that there are exceptions, and that we're very approachable,” Crossingham said. “If students are communicating with us, we can make all of these things very workable.” 

SHS administrators will host a public informational meeting about the changes at 4:45 p.m. Wednesday in the SHS library.