Stillwater schools are changing the cell phone policy to have students lock their cell phones in a lock box in their first hour and have to go back in sixth hour to get their phones back. Students are being impacted by the new policy because their personal devices are being taken all day and students will have no source of contact with their parents. The Pony Express staff are not happy with the new policy because they described how there might be a hassle in trying to get phones back without a class interruption.
Although the students are not happy with the change, the district explained that they are enforcing a new phone policy to have a “focus and distraction-free learning environment”. Students who arrive later to school must give their cell phones to the front desk or Pony Center. And students who need to leave early must get permission from the front desk to grab their cell phones. Staff all agree that the change will not be effective after the first few weeks of the school year because teachers might be more lenient about the policy.
The new phone policy will most likely not have an impact as students may try to keep their phones. Many students might choose to bring a fake phone to use instead of their actual phone. Within the school right now are phone “hotels” or holders that students tend to put a fake phone in and keep their actual phone. The change will most likely not impact the students after a few weeks because they will slowly start using fake phones or not being honest with their phone in the holder.
“I also feel like students are going to find a way to cheat. You can bring an extra phone and put that in the box or something. There are ways people would get around the new policy,” junior Aila Fisk said.
With the school deciding to use new rules with the phones, many upperclassmen students will choose to do online school or PSEO (Post Secondary Education Option). Several students do not like the fact that their personal devices are being locked up from the first bell of the day to the last bell of the day.
“I feel like so many other people would want to do that because they don’t want to have their phone the entire day. I feel like a lot of people do not enjoy coming to school as it is just having your personal items taken away from you. I feel like the school is going to have a way lower attendance, and tons of classes,” junior Shaeffer Watson said.
Students who may not be in school all day might not be able to get their phones without interrupting classes to get it back. Many juniors and seniors may choose to leave early in the day and they would need to have their cell phones. The only way to get their cell phones back would be to go into a classroom where that teacher might be teaching. Overall the teachers could eventually get frustrated because students will have to come into that class and interrupt every day.
“Also lots of students take PSEO or have a senior elect hour so they leave early. They are going to have to disturb a class to go get their phones. Also busses will leave without you. If you have to go get your phone from how to the band rooms for example, students are not going to be able to do that and then get to the bus,” junior Layla Hill said.
A possible solution other than enforcing this new policy, could be having phones in the holder based on teachers requests. Junior Kynadee Wittwer explained how in some classes, such as newspapers, students need their cell phones to interview people. The new phone policy would make it hard for students in newspaper to use the otter app to interview other students. Teachers could easily take attendance based on whose phone is in the holder and teachers can enforce consequences such as an unexcused absence that students cannot make up, or teachers could do daily points based on phones being up in the holder.
“Not having my phone throughout the day would stress me out and for example not having contact with my parents when I need to. And for classes, you kind of use phones a lot. Especially for this class because we do interviews and we use otter. For example, I’ve used my phone in previous classes like gym class and to do surveys in other classes,” Wittwer said.
Overall, the new cell phone policy that the school is trying out next year will most likely not work or have the impact they were hoping for. Many students will cheat the system and not actually go along with putting their cell phones in the holder all day.
