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Penn-Trafford student representative raises concerns about smart passes, phone ban and lunch payments
Summary
New student board representative Maya Kaczek told the Penn-Trafford School District board that students are having trouble with five-minute “smart passes,” a new phone ban and changes to lunch payment procedures.
Maya Kaczek, the new student representative to the Penn-Trafford School District board, told the board at its meeting that students are experiencing problems with the district's recently introduced smart-pass system, a phone ban and changes to how lunch payments are handled.
Kaczek said many students feel the smart-pass restroom breaks are too short and sometimes fail to record time correctly. “They feel that there is not enough time to use the restroom and have to rush back to class…It's only set for about 5 minutes,” she said. She also told the board there is “only 1 bathroom on the Second Floor,” and said students face a rule that “if you go to the bathroom more than 3 times a day, you will get called down to the office.”
Kaczek said students are also unhappy with the district's phone ban, especially among seniors who feel the rule treats them like children. She urged the board to consider emergencies when restricting phones: “phones can help us in emergencies such as fires, school shootings, or lockdowns.”
On classroom tools, Kaczek said some calculator caddies provided to hold phones and calculators are already failing: “the first couple weeks of school, they're already falling apart because the weight of the phones.” She asked the district to consider sturdier replacements if the phone policy remains in place.
Kaczek also raised concerns about changes to lunch payments, saying that removal of certain price displays can cause “blind buying” and that students may spend their lunch money without realizing it. She referenced a prior student article on the topic by Annabella Aquino and said the issue remained unresolved.
A district staff member responded briefly, saying the staff could speak with the principal and with Aramark about pricing. Kaczek concluded by thanking the board and noting she looked forward to representing students during the 2025–26 school year.
The remarks were given as an information item during the school board meeting's public information portion; the board did not take immediate formal action on the student concerns during the portion of the meeting recorded in the transcript.
