SmartPass Brings Digital Technology to EPHS Hallways

NOTE: The following article was written by EPHS senior Milana Brilyak as part of her Journalism & Broadcasting – Workplace Experience class. The course, taught by Christina Heinen, gives students an opportunity to have their work featured on the District 401 website. 

In light of the new school year, new school policies and rules have come into place at Elmwood Park High School. The use of the SmartPass system is one of them. Students interact with an electronic program that acts as their hall pass instead of traditional paper passes. With email instructions about the new system coming out a week before school started, students were wondering. “What is ‘SmartPass’ anyways?”

Initially created in 2018 by two high school seniors in suburban Philadelphia, Peter Luba and Dhruv Sringari, the aim of the program was to help their assistant principal manage their school’s hallways. Now, it's become a program used by schools all over the country, especially after being acquired by Raptor Technologies, a company aiming to improve school safety. 

The system has students create a pass, usually on their Chromebooks, whenever they need to leave the classroom. An allotted time is set for certain destinations, usually five minutes for a trip to the bathroom, locker, etc.  There are also a certain number of passes a student can use per day, with each student getting five passes to use with a 45-minute cooldown between passes.

All staff in the building can access SmartPass to see which students are in the hallways, as well as schedule passes for them in the future to meet with teachers. According to the company’s website, SmartPass aims to “make easy-to-use tools so school staff can focus on learning, not logistics.” EPHS is one of the newest schools to be added to the company’s over 3,000 users nationwide.

The beginning of the 2025-26 school year brought SmartPass to the computers and hallways of EPHS. I interviewed the head of the SmartPass system at the high school, Dean of Students Michaela Vasey, to see how the school is doing with the new system. 

Ms. Vasey explained that SmartPass has improved safety by keeping track of students and reducing the number of students in the hallways. While it is only being used at the high school this year, she states that its success may warrant the District to consider expanding its use. 

The feedback she has gotten so far has been mostly positive, with staff and even students liking the new system. Although it caused some frustration among staff because of early glitches and students not being used to the new policy, the overall acceptance of the system throughout the building has been generally good, she said.

“I think it works really well with teachers,” Ms. Vasey said. “It’s a little bit more challenging for our student services team, but I think as we keep using it it’ll be successful in all areas.” 

Overall, the system seems to be working well at EPHS and will be used for the foreseeable future.

Students have mixed feelings about the new system. Many say that they like the new passes, like Landon Arreola, a senior. 

“I believe that everything is way more organized,” he said. “It also makes people come back from the bathroom quicker so I can go.”

Tessa LaRocco, a junior, says she doesn’t mind using SmartPass, and that she always makes it back on time so it isn’t an issue for her. 

Some students, on the other hand, don’t like SmartPass. Meredith Brayton, a senior, said, “The limited pass time is difficult sometimes.” 

SmartPass has quickly become an important part of life at EPHS. With staff and students adjusting to the new system, hallways have become safer and more organized. As the year progresses, EPHS may lead the path to SmartPass starting in other schools as well.