Weston unveils SmartPass trial at middle school; committee raises privacy and discipline questions

Weston School District staff described plans to roll out SmartPass — a digital hall‑pass and student‑accountability system owned by Raptor — at Weston Middle School, and committee members raised questions about privacy, data access and disciplinary use.

Dan DeVito described SmartPass as a classroom kiosk system synced to PowerSchool that records student sign‑outs, starts timers, logs arrivals and departures, supports capacity limits and can be configured for encounter‑prevention rules (for example, preventing two named students from being out of class at the same time). He said the system can be set to emergency mode so administrators and security can account for students in real time during a lockdown.

Committee members welcomed the safety and instructional benefits but pressed for clarity on privacy and discipline. One member asked whether the platform could be used for disciplinary action and about data retention; Dan said building principals (named in the transcript as Jason and Drew) and certain staff will have access to reports, teachers can see current passes for their classes, and that historical data for a class can be available for the life of the course or for the year.

"The platform meets all the data privacy laws as well," one staff member said, but committee members asked the district to spell out retention periods, access controls, and written policy language if the system is later used for disciplinary purposes. Staff said training for teachers and a phased rollout are planned, with a target for a full rollout in January and additional training before schoolwide expansion. No disciplinary policy or districtwide decision on expansion was adopted at the meeting.