As Sierra Vista High School students return to campus, administration instituted a new cell phone policy. Not only has administration continued to enforce the dress code policy, but also they created a new system to ban cell phone use in classrooms. The cell phone ban impact on students’ daily routines and the classroom environment sparked controversy. Ms. Galloway, Sierra Vista’s assistant principal states, “Well, it’s a district policy, CCSD district policy and were just trying to get kids more engaged. Ms. Lovell recommended that all her team read Building School Culture. Reconnect for Meaning, Purpose, and Belonging, and the whole book is about how to bring back kids to engage in the classrooms and reduce cell phone usage.”
The cell phone ban during school hours stems from concerns about excessive phone use negatively impacting student’s academic performance and social interactions. Research shows that constant phone notifications leads to distraction which reduces ability to concentrate in class. Phones cause students to be less social, and as a result, they lack the skills to work well with their classmates. By limiting cell phone use during school hours, the administration aims to create a focused learning environment that improves students’ performance and encourages more social interaction between their classmates. The policies overall impact on students’ daily routines seems beneficial, as students themselves have most definitely noticed a difference in their own classes. Myleen Gomez, a tenth grader attending Sierra Vista High School, states, “I think the new cell phone policy is helpful. It keeps the students from getting distracted easily, and personally, it helps me get work done more efficiently and on time. The cell phone policy also overall helps the classroom environment and it makes the general student population more focused and active in class.”
To enforce this new policy, students must conceal their phones in their bags during class, and if teachers see the phones out, they are allowed to confiscate them without warning. Phones are only allowed during student’s lunch periods. Once phones are confiscated by administration, the policy states that the first offense students and their parents will receive an email regarding the phone being taken, and the office will hold the phone until the end of the school day. After the second offense, students will also receive a 1-day lunch detention, and after the third offense, they will receive a 3-day lunch detention. The fourth and fifth offenses require the students to have a 1-day in-house suspension and a mandatory parent-teacher conference.
Essentially, the new phone policy aims to create a focused learning environment that enhances academic performance and social interactions. Ms. Galloway further explains, “It’s going to have kids talking; students are going to be more focused on the instruction; we really just want kids to be engaging with one another. You know, when you’re down looking at your phone, you’re not making eye contact, you’re not having conversations; it’s all about student engagement and being present in the class.”
