Challenge

Arbor Hills Junior High School faced challenges related to student behavior and monitoring in the hallways and restrooms.

They needed a solution to

• identify students who were out of class without permission
• prevent unauthorized encounters in the restrooms
• reduce the number of students missing class due to excessive bathroom breaks

These issues were causing disruptions, wasting instructional time, and creating additional workload for the staff, including custodians who had to clean up messes.

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Solution

To address these challenges, Arbor Hills Junior High School implemented SmartPass, which enhances student movement monitoring and behavior management. SmartPass offers several features that proved to be invaluable for the school.

One key feature is the ability to distinguish between those who had permission to be in the hallways and those who did not. This allowed the school staff to quickly identify and address unauthorized hallway presence.

Another essential feature is Encounter Prevention, which effectively eliminates planned meet-ups and gatherings in the restrooms. By implementing this feature, the school successfully mitigated disruptive behavior in the restrooms, promoting a safer and more focused learning environment.

"SmartPass has allowed us to eliminate a lot of the issues that we had in the restrooms where students would plan to meet up in the restroom at a certain time to surround, and with the encounter prevention in place, that has completely eliminated that."

—Christy Rowley, Assistant Principal, Arbor Hills Junior High School

SmartPass also provides completely customizable pass limits, which significantly reduce the instances of students using excessive bathroom breaks and missing class by adjusting the number of passes a student gets each day and/or the time allowed by a pass. Staff established clear communication with parents to ensure everyone understood the purpose and implementation of this limitation.

Furthermore, the program's reporting features include a cumulative time spent out of class per student, highlighting the impact on instructional time. This report gave Arbor Hills staff insight into the extent of instructional time lost due to hallway and restroom activities, including campus hot spots in need of additional monitoring and behavior management.

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Smart Moves

One of the most notable benefits was the revelation that something as seemingly simple as going to the restroom could account for a substantial amount of lost instructional time.

Data reports proved that some students lose as many as 12 hours of instructional time during the school year solely due to bathroom visits. This realization further reinforced the significance of SmartPass in minimizing disruptions and maximizing instructional time.

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Results

The implementation of SmartPass at Arbor Hills Junior High School brought about significant improvements in various aspects of school operations. The program received widespread appreciation from both staff and students. Custodians, in particular, praised SmartPass for providing visibility into restroom usage, enabling them to address issues promptly and eliminate messes.

With SmartPass, the school effectively

• curtailed unauthorized hallway presence
• prevented planned encounters in the restrooms
• reduced the number of students missing class due to excessive bathroom breaks

These positive outcomes resulted in a more focused and productive learning environment.

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With the improvements in the school's efficiency and student behavior, SmartPass has the Arbor Hills' community feeling positive about the future. And, with SmartPass' new features in place for the 2023-24 school year, Arbor Hills Junior High School staff and administration anticipate even more positive change as they continue their partnership with SmartPass.