As of June 2022, new phone poli­cies were placed into the Studen­t’s Rights and Respon­si­bil­i­ties (SR&R). These poli­cies differ­en­ti­ate for each student depend­ing on their grade. 

The SR&R states that for students from grades 9–12 the only excep­tions are lunches, before and after school, as well as school-related purposes. If these rules are not followed, teach­ers can confis­cate a device at the end of class or the end of the school day. 

This measure has been taken with the goal of support­ing students county-wide and prevent­ing any distrac­tions that can get in the way of a studen­t’s educa­tion. One of the other main moti­va­tions for this was that phones were out more in the class­rooms, during learn­ing time.

When describ­ing the distrac­tions that can take place with students’ devices Assis­tant Prin­ci­pal Evan Carter states “Things like [phones] can be pretty distract­ing and we can be really pulled into these things, but in the class­room defi­nitely isn’t the time for that.” Carter describes this change as some­thing that was needed.

Students’ devices are described as some­thing that, although it may be help­ful, it’s not a wise deci­sion to spend most of your time in class on said device.

While students may have trou­ble stay­ing off of their devices, they under­stand that when a teacher asks for their phone it’s best they give it. Biol­ogy Teacher Kirsten Salonga states that “I gener­ally have not had many students refuse to give me their phones for the period [because what is worse to them is having secu­rity take their phones for the rest of the day if they refuse].”

Salonga describes a studen­t’s device as some­thing that inter­feres with their educa­tion and prevents them from moving forward in class. “The students I do not have to repeat­edly ask to stay on task are gener­ally those who have higher grades and are not constantly on their phones.” Salonga states.

This is some­thing that many students have come to an under­stand­ing with. Junior Anabel Tesfaye says “I think that if a student is on their phone non-stop then a teacher should take it but not when they are not distracted by it.” Tesfaye expresses her view on when teach­ers should and should not take a studen­t’s phone. Explain­ing that a teacher taking a studen­t’s phone can be justi­fied, but only to a certain extent.

The phone policy put in place has been implied to the high­est level of effec­tive­ness possi­ble. Now that high effort, although it may be needed to a certain extent, is not high enough.