SmartPass vs. Securly e-hallpass: Our School Tried Both
An in-depth breakdown on the top digital hall pass solutions.
My school recently made the decision to both clarify and simplify the hall pass process by using digital hall passes. We love the system and we won’t go back to paper passes.
There are several digital hall pass products on the market, and having tested out two of these options for myself and my staff and students, it’s clear that some of these products are better equipped to handle the needs of schools.
My goal is to share my personal experiences with two digital hall pass products: e-hallpass, offered by Securly (formerly Eduspire Solutions), and SmartPass. I’ll share my perspectives on each and give an overall scorecard so that you can choose the product that will work best for your school.
What I Wish I’d Known When We Became A Digital Hall Pass School
#1: You Need A Teacher-Centric Design
One of the benefits of using an electronic hall pass is that when your students ask to go to location XYZ, your students are the ones creating the pass. It’s one way to promote student autonomy and self-advocacy in a non-confrontational way. But for that to happen, your students have to be able to use it. If the students can’t use it, no one will.
#2: You Need To Be Able to Tailor the Platform to Your Needs
Every school is different. Room naming conventions, teachers on carts, teachers who stay in one place, campus layouts, bell schedules — all are unique to a building. A high degree of customization allows schools to adapt the system to meet their unique requirements.
#3: You Need Reliability and Top-Tier Customer Service
We’ve all heard someone say “Technology is great until it stops working, amirite?” And because no system is perfect 100% of the time and no human is perfect 100% of the time, you need a product with maximum uptime and customer service that has your back.
1. e-hallpass / Securly Pass
Website: https://eduspiresolutions.org
Background
In 2017, Nathan Hammond, an educator for 20 years, created e-hallpass software for Eduspire Solutions. In 2022, Securly acquired Eduspire Solutions and branded e-hallpass as Pass. For this piece, I refer to it as e-hallpass.
Price
- $2.50-$5.00 per student; contact Securly for a quote for packages to meet your school’s needs.
User Experience
When it comes to our school community experiences, e-hallpass fell short.
- The interface is text-heavy and challenging for students to navigate quickly.
- It didn’t accommodate the needs of students with various abilities and language levels.
Our staff found the interface to be useable, though not necessarily intuitive. Most importantly, the administration noted that gathering information about individual student movements and overall movement trends was cumbersome.
Ultimately, frustrations with e-hallpass usability affected the fidelity of the tool’s implementation.
Customizability
Securly e-hallpass is adjustable and versatile. You can set up pass limits, room max limits, and block student meetups.
However, after launching it at my school, I was surprised to find certain functions didn’t operate in a way that met our needs. For example:
- It’s possible to limit the number of students allowed in a restroom at one time, but when that bathroom is full, students are hit with an error (versus being entered into a virtual line).
- You can set individual pass limits, but if a student has a medical need, you can’t set a higher pass limit for just that student, nor can you adjust pass timings. We found this particular issue to be a sticking point. Schools must meet FERPA and IDEA laws. This setting made it difficult for us to enforce pass limits for our high-needs students who also took advantage of hall pass privileges.
- There is a setting that can require students to get teacher approval before traveling on campus. This is a great function! Unfortunately, only the staff member immediately responsible for that student can approve the pass. That means that if a student requests to see the nurse or counselor — and isn’t already in the presence of that nurse or counselor — the teacher can approve or deny the pass, but there’s no way for the nurse or counselor to approve or deny the pass. This is a problem during flu season (when the nurse is swamped) and for counselors who need to keep matters private.
These were seemingly little issues, but the more my staff and I used e-hallpass, the more annoyed we became. And little issues tend to become big frustrations when they aren’t addressed (more on that in a moment).
Reliability & Customer Service
- Connectivity issues were frequent, causing significant downtime. In a school, students are always coming and going. We needed a reliable and consistent electronic hall pass.
- In my experience, customer support left much to be desired. There were times when I felt unheard. At one point, I was even told that our concerns weren’t concerning at all. Ultimately, it became clear that those little-issues-turned-big-frustrations wouldn’t be addressed for us. We were left to figure it out on our own.
2. SmartPass
Website: www.smartpass.app
Background
In 2018, a handful of public high school students and their assistant principal (who is still in his role at the date of this article’s release) founded SmartPass when the school was dealing with disruptive and unsafe behavior stemming from student movement on campus. The initial iteration of SmartPass had rudimentary check-out and check-in features, a basic timer, and simple reporting. Since then, SmartPass has rolled out additional features like Emergency Mode, Encounter Prevention, SmartPass Flex, and Digital IDs.
Price
- $2.50-$5.00 per student; contact SmartPass for a quote for packages to meet your school’s needs.
User Experience
SmartPass wowed us with its student-friendly interface:
- Its simple, colorful design with icons for various destinations is a game-changer for students with different abilities.
- The intuitive interface makes it easy for students to request passes efficiently.
SmartPass’s features and design aren’t just helpful for students; they also make life easier for staff, substitutes, and administrators.
- Like e-hallpass, SmartPass allows us to block meetups between students with Encounter Prevention.
- Unlike e-hallpass, SmartPass offers a Wait In Line feature, meaning that when rooms are full, students don’t receive an error, but rather are added to a line and notified when it’s their turn to go.
- Staff notes that SmartPass’s interface is “far more intuitive” with a gentler learning curve.
- Substitutes can quickly get up and running, whether they are new to the building or have been with us for a while.
- Administrators praise SmartPass’ data dashboard, which is easy to read and present to guardians during meetings. It also allows us to monitor staff usage effectively.
- Administrators also noted that it’s easier to see if our staff is using the passes with fidelity with SmartPass.
Customizability
One of the standout features of SmartPass is its high degree of customization. It allows us — and all schools — to adapt the system to our unique requirements.
- Room labels can be personalized. Shared spaces get a title and a room number (i.e. “Tech Lab” and “Room 106”). Teachers’ classrooms are labeled with their names and room numbers. students can search by either, ensuring that they can always find their destination.
- We can customize colors and icons for locations, making it visually intuitive. For example, all our drinking fountain passes are blue with a related icon. Color coding and icons give meaning to the words for our Multilingual Learners and students with disabilities. This little but important feature empowers these students and gives them some independence.
- SmartPass helps us meet the individual needs of our students. We can set a school-wide pass limit for the day (i.e. 1 pass per period, so 8 passes per day). We can also set limits by student group or single student.
For example, Jamie needs to have fewer passes during the day because she is wandering frequently. Jessica needs regular walking breaks in addition to regular passes. SmartPass helps us accommodate both students discreetly. Individualized limits give our students privacy, which is vital for maintaining student confidentiality and remaining in compliance with both FERPA and IDEA laws.
Reliability & Customer Service
- To put it plainly, SmartPass has significantly more uptime compared to our previous system. When we need it to work, it works.
- Troubleshooting with SmartPass has been a breeze, thanks to the intuitive interface. We usually resolve issues without external support from the SmartPass team using our own knowledge of the settings and their online tutorials.
- Customer support (Live Chat) was and remains a standout feature. They are receptive, responsive, and genuinely supportive. During our onboarding, they took our suggestions seriously, making sure the system met our school’s unique needs.
Since implementation, I’ve seen the team regularly ask for feedback from users, and it’s clear that they want SmartPass to be the best it can be for their educators. Working with their team has been a pleasure.
Scorecard: Securly e-hallpass vs. SmartPass
Final Thoughts
Both Securly e-hallpass and SmartPass help schools standardize the process for students moving from point A to point B. Each option provides information about student movement patterns that schools can use to curb problematic and unsafe behaviors. Depending on your school’s needed features and pricing, you can use either e-hallpass or SmartPass to see what’s happening with student movement on your campus.
We Made the Smart Move with SmartPass
That said, switching from Securly e-hallpass to SmartPass was a smart move for our school. e-hallpass worked for us for a little while, but ultimately, our school’s needs required us to find a better fit. SmartPass’ student-centric design, high level of customization, and top-notch customer service have improved the way we manage student movement, ensuring that our students get the most out of their school day.
As we continue to use SmartPass, we’re excited to explore its full potential and realize even more benefits for our school. If you’re considering a switch, remember it’s about finding what works best for your unique needs. In our case, SmartPass was the right choice, and we haven’t looked back.
Note: This article reflects the customer’s perspective based on the interview notes provided. Any reference to specific product features and customer experiences is as reported by the customer.
