A new cell phone and headphone policy was implemented on Monday, October 30. The phone policy that was put into place enforced guidelines that students are required to follow regarding the usage of phones during school hours. The phone policy includes expectations that need to be followed as well as consequences for insubordination.
Assistant Principal Jeremy Dearborne hopes to lessen distractions in the classroom by enforcing this policy to students at Heritage.
“We were seeing a lot of issues in class with students not paying attention or the phones being a distraction, so it was really taking away from the environment that’s conducive to learning, so were trying to take that distraction away”.
Although the phone policy was used to improve the overall classroom environment, Ary Parra (12) suggests that it could lead to some future challenges with student’s overall mental health.
“Some people might just mentally not feel so good because phones are an attachment for a lot of people from using them after a long period of time.”
Samantha Winant (11) elaborated upon whether the new policy would prepare students for future workplace environments.
“I don’t think it necessarily does that much because I feel like adults generally have access to their phones. They shouldn’t be on it all day long, but I feel like they still have access to it”.
One of the consequences listed in the policy states that “if a student is found to have their cellphones out during the instructional block, they will be confiscated by the teacher until the end of the class.” Parra agrees that the consequences are appropriate.
“If your teacher asks you to hand them your device at that point in time, they are your educator or your rule maker. In a way, you sort of have to owe them that respect,” Parra said.
The new phone policy has brought about some opinions from a student named Marcus Greene (10) on whether the policy that’s in place is really necessary for students.
“I feel like the policy is alright. I feel like we shouldn’t have to put phones in our bags. It’s okay if we have our phones in our pockets and are not on them, but when teachers get done with instructions, we should be able to use them,” Greene said.
Winant also thinks that the new phone policy would not necessarily be helpful to the vast majority of people at Heritage.
“It can lead to issues at home if somebody doesn’t text back to something and respond back, but it could be helpful for some people, but I feel like for those who don’t care, it’s not going to be beneficial at all,” Winant said.
Principal Dearborne believes limiting phone usage in class can help create a more hyper-focused learning environment for students.
“The phone can be a very big distraction with social media and everything being on the phone,” Dearborne said. “So to kinda taking away that distraction will help them get more focused in whatever is going on in that particular class.”