Since February, CRLS students have been wondering: Will Aspine ever return? 

Kevin Keagan, head CPS IT manager, explains. “If it managed to satisfy security concerns…” Aspine club members say, “If we’re able to write a new code, and if we can get enough people together…” then, yes, Aspine could come back.

Midway through February, the beloved student-created grading platform—complete with its grade calculators and an automatic sign-in—vanished from CRLS browsers. The site went down in unison with the CPS-run application Aspen, leaving grades virtually unknown for several weeks. While Aspen has come back in what appears to be its original form, Aspine remains lost to the public. So, what happened?

Aspen went down because it was moving to a more secure server.

In the past, Aspine founder Kenneth Kalin ’20 explained, the cycle would look like this: (1) the Aspine club writes the code for a new feature (think dark mode or correct lunch info), (2) the IT department reviews the code and determines if there are any security concerns, and (3) the new feature is hosted on the CPS production server and appears on the Aspine program. 

This is part of a deal worked out between the club and the IT department back in 2019. Originally, it started when the CPS IT department shut Aspine down due to security concerns, explained Kalim. “Then they realized, oh, this is a cool app – it serves a purpose. But from then on we were always at the mercy of Aspen.”

Aspine is currently at the mercy of Aspen right now: as of May, the IT department is still unwilling to host Aspine through the same arrangement as before. 

Kevin Keegan, the CPS IT director, explained the situation to the Register Forum. Since the old version of Aspine required students to input their Aspen passwords in order to access the program, Aspine presents a security risk for student information. “Right now, if anyone went to GitHub, found the Aspine code, opened up their own domain, and used that same code to fire up a server, it’s likely that students would plug their passwords into that – and, well, that’s the stuff we want to prevent.” As long as CRLS students have to give the Aspine program their Aspen credentials, the IT department won’t support it.

Another barrier to having Aspine again is that nearly all of the code must be rewritten in order to be compatible with the new server. The CRLS Aspine club is currently merged with the CRLS Cybersecurity club, several members of which are working to rewrite a secure code that will mimic Aspine. “Right now we’re trying to stay on the less ambitious side. We just want some basic functions—whatever we can get, to be honest,” said Leo Glorioso ’27 and Sam Mayle ’27, current Aspine/Cybersecurity club coders.

CRLS students who want to help with the project should reach out to the Cybersecurity club, which meets on Fridays after school in Dr. Wu’s room. Members say, “It’s a lot of work, and we need all the help we can get.”