This year many new policies were put into place, with the biggest one being the phone policy. The phone policy was always in place but never really enforced and this year things changed. The policy is very strict, allowing for very few exceptions for students to be on their phones. 

For many students the phone policy has been hard to follow. Students said that they do not like the policy and teachers are being way too strict. “Especially at the start and end of class,” sophomore Trevor Picago said. 

Students also think that putting a restriction on their phones is just going to cause students to get into more trouble, and it’s not working that well. “Most of my friends just sneak on their phones and find ways to get around it,” sophomore Zubier Saleh said.

Teachers, on the other hand, are very happy with this new policy.

 “I like the phone policy because I teach ASL and I need them to have their eyes on me,” ASL teacher Jennifer McCauley said.

While many students dislike the phone policy, there are some people who think that the phone policy has helped them. They said that adding restrictions to their phones has helped them reconnect with friends and helped them start new connections with others. “This year I have made friends that I never thought I would have,” junior Meryk Smart said. 

The phone policy has its positives and negatives, and some students don’t want to admit it, but the phone policy has helped students with their grades.

It has caused some classes, like Yearbook which use their phones a lot to take photos and look for content, to make some changes. After some back and forth with the administration, students are allowed to take photos with their phones as long as they take a Photo Pass clipboard with them.

 “In Yearbook, it has caused a lot of problems, since we use our phones nonstop for photos for the book. We don’t have cameras – our phones are our cameras,” said yearbook adviser Kate Wagner. “For example, we look up a person’s schedule, and if the student is in study hall, two yearbook staffers will run there, take the photo quickly, and return to the publication room. After some back and forth with Admin, we were allowed to have a Photo Pass clipboard, so if students need to get photos, they can do so with the pass. No one has pushed back on it yet, so that’s great, and we can still get our work done!”