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At the beginning of the school year there were a lot of announcements introducing and reminding everyone about the phone policy. Throughout the year, there were students who would follow the policy, and those who didn’t were required to have their phones taken to the office.
Assistant principal Ryan Syme has seen the policy play out and thinks it has been very effective for both teachers and students. The policy has changed students, making them more sociable and interactive. Students are now engaging more in classes and having student-to-student conversations.
“We were trained to never talk in class, but actually talking can be a good way to learn,” Syme said. “Having conversations with each other is a good way to learn.”
Other schools around the state have different policies where the phones are turned in at the beginning of the day and aren’t given back until the end of the day. But Syme didn’t like that idea.
“I think it’s cool that kids can keep their phones in their pocket because we are not evading their privacy,” Syme said, “and we are not being dictators, but we are teaching the kids when it is appropriate to pull it out when it is appropriate or not.”
For students, this new policy has been both helpful and inconvenient. They had mixed feelings on if the policy had helped the school and themselves as a whole. 52 percent thought it helped in general and 48 percent did not. While 48 percent thought that the policy made a difference in the school and 52 percent did not.
For junior Emma Evans, this new policy has been very helpful from her point of view. At the beginning of the school year, it was hard to get used to not using phones as much. But now that it is closer to the end of the year, Evans has found that not having a phone has helped.
“You get a lot more done,” Evans said. “There’s no distractions like when it buzzes in your pocket and you’re like, ‘Oh, I wonder who that is,’ you’re not pulling it out all the time. It has helped me stay more focused.”
There are pros and cons of the policy, but as the year went on, there have been changes outside of school as well. For example, Evans has found that her screen time has gone down, and she has found that she doesn’t need her phone.
“I don’t want to be on my phone as much,” Evans said. “I found myself not taking my phone to places I normally would have. I don’t feel like I’m as dependent on it now.”
Other students haven’t found that the phone policy has helped, and it is basically the same. For Junior Ben Aranda, the policy has not helped or hindered him academically. It’s basically the same when he had his phone.
“I never really let my phone distract me from class, but it was so nice to use when I had free time,” Aranda said.
For him, it is the same both at school and at home, using his phone as much as he used to before. But overall, most of the students have been getting better at keeping their phones away during class time. There are still a few who get their phone taken away a lot, but the students seem to be following and respecting the policy.
Because the students have been following the policy well, it is not needed to make many big changes. Syme wants students to realize that even with the policy, they can still have the feeling of safety of having their phones with them.
“I do believe that it is productive for kids to know that they can check their phone in between classes and maybe give them that feeling of safety in between classes and at lunch,” Syme said. “I like our cell phone policy. I don’t want to make it any more harsh.”
Next year, the policy will stay, but there will be a few changes to ensure that students are bringing their phones to the office when told so. Teachers will receive radios to contact the office to make sure students actually go to the office.
