Start Of A New Year With Some Big Changes

Smartpass in use by students.

Image Credits: Sadie Sweet

By Nicholas Wright

It is the start of a new year in Pinelands and the administration decided to shake up a few things. There are many new rules that students must follow. The most shocking change being the implementation of our new hall pass system, Smart Pass.

This school year we started to use the Smart pass app whose function is to monitor students and where they go. It helps teachers out as well, as students would only have 5 minutes to use the bathroom. Of course, it is a good way to put an end to students skipping their classes, plus if they don't make it back in time, it sends an alert to the teacher and they can contact the office “to report the “missing” student”. In addition to the bathroom option, It also has locations like the nurse, main office, and certain members of the staff.

I interviewed Mr.Maleski about the reasons behind why he and the other staff decided to enforce the rule. He talked about how they wanted to see how long students would take in the bathroom, to see if they were taking 5 or 30 minutes. He also talked about how some people “were concerned” thinking that administration is tracking their phones which is not at all the case. His exact words were. “We want to see where the kids are going to see their daily activity when they are out of the classroom but we also wanted to teach them accountability. Students need to do their business and get out, not stay there for 30 minutes and if so we will take action if they abuse it.”

I decided to interview a variety of students in the school and most of them disagreed with staff options and said they hated the app and that it is an invasion of privacy towards them. One student said a he’s opinion on the rule that stood out among the rest, “Honestly, it’s not a good app for the school. I see what they are trying to do but it isn’t pleasant being timed to use the bathroom. It has its pros but overall it isn’t a good thing for school and I think we need to stop using it.”

Another big change this year is the schedule and the timing of the bells. The difference with the schedule is that we now have 11 periods instead of 8. The periods are now split so school now goes from 7:20-1:45, keeping the 4 minutes of passing time to get to class. The new schedule also eliminated study hall for most people since there are more periods and there is no open time for study hall.

The last change is one that no one wanted to see return; buying school lunch.For the past 3 years, school lunch has been free thanks to Covid and grant money, but now students have a lunch card they need in order to buy. In addition to buying lunch, gone are the days of eating in the commons. Eating in the commons was traditionally a “senior privilege” which many underclassmen took advantage of. Now it is entirely taken away, regardless of grade or academic standing.

All these rules have shaken up Pinelands in many different ways for the students and having to adjust to them.