Upper Darby administrators propose SmartPass digital hall-pass pilot at high school

Upper Darby School District administrators on Jan. 28 proposed a pilot of SmartPass, a digital hall-pass and real-time student tracking platform, at Upper Darby High School as part of the district—s security and student-movement efforts.

Mrs. Kelly Simone and Dan Kitchen presented the proposal to the Education and Pupil Services Committee, saying SmartPass would allow students and staff to create and approve hall passes through district devices, provide administrators and hall monitors with a dashboard showing who is out of class and where they should be, and generate reports to identify problem areas. The presenters said SmartPass integrates with the district—s student information systems and works on existing devices (iPads, laptops and Chromebooks). Training and prerecorded tutorials are included in the pilot cost and available throughout the contract.

Mr. Kitchen said the pilot would focus first on equipping hall monitors at the high school to use real-time tracking so staff can identify students in hallways who lack approved passes. The initial pilot term presented to the committee would run from February through June 2025; administrators said the pilot is contingent on legal review of the contract.

Administrators provided cost context. During the meeting Mr. Kitchen stated a pilot cost figure that appears in the record as "1,600,391"; the number as spoken in the transcript is unclear and may reflect a transcription error. Administrators later offered an approximate annual cost for full implementation at all three secondary schools of about $32,000. The committee discussed default and teacher-set pass durations, the ability for teachers to create passes if students cannot access devices, and the role of hall monitors in interpreting dashboard information and approaching students out of assigned locations.

Board members and committee chairs asked for clarification on practical use: how a student would request a bathroom pass, how hall monitors would identify students in the hallway, and how the system would avoid escalating routine interactions. Administrators said teachers can create a pass on the student's behalf, hall monitors would see a student—s picture and authorized pass destination in real time, and the initial pilot would limit deployment to hall monitors to minimize unnecessary confrontations.

Administrators said the pilot would allow staff to evaluate key features, address issues and determine whether to scale the system to other secondary schools. The committee asked that administrators provide demonstrations and video tutorials to the board; presenters said they have shared videos and would provide additional materials. If the committee recommendation advances, the board would consider pilot authorization at its February meeting.