During the 2024-2025 school year, a new phone policy has been implemented for students and faculty where the usage of cellphones is not allowed during any class periods. These new efforts to improve focus in the classroom have proven to be very controversial this year.
Rockwood Superintendent Dr. Curtis Cain said that even though phones are of benefit in some aspects, they are taking away from student education.
“While we understand these devices are great for convenience and providing a feeling of safety and security when children are away from home, smartphones are causing significant disruptions to the learning environment for many students. The constant buzzing and beeping of phones can interrupt lessons, divert attention away from important instructional materials, and hinder students’ ability to concentrate and engage with their studies, teachers and peers effectively,” Cain said.
In the last few years, student focus has been on a decline due to the increasing usage of phones in class. Math teacher Thomas Cassilly said the policy will help because there have been problems in the past of phones being a distraction.
“Last year it was just getting really bad. Kids were just on their phones all the time and we didn’t really have a school wide policy, so some teachers were pretty lenient on it, other teachers were really strict. I think that led to a little bit of confusion for kids knowing when and when [they can] not have their phones. When is an appropriate time, when is not an appropriate time,” Cassilly said.
Science teacher Cooper Rinehart took a similar stance on the strategy to encourage attentiveness within the learning environment.
“It’s gonna help, people will have fewer distractions. They won’t have an easy out to goof around and avoid the lesson, so I think most people would rather focus on the lesson than be totally bored,” Rinehart said.
Conversely, some students believe this new policy may be overly strict with the feeling that it may not achieve the district’s expectations. Sophomore Chloe Recht feels the policy makes her more attached to her phone.
“I feel like [the policy] almost makes me want to take it out of my backpack, check my notifications more than when it was just sitting next to me on my desk,” Recht said.
Phone pockets have now become more useful since the implementation of the rule. Teachers have found this effective, making sure students are not getting distracted on their phone because it is up on the wall where the teacher can see it. However, freshman Laura Gordon feels as though teachers are treating students like juveniles.
“I think it might increase focus a little bit, but I feel like they kinda go a little bit far on it. Like with the phone pockets, it just feels like they’re treating us like little kids,” Gordon said.
Gordon also spoke on how the middle school’s policy didn’t differ too far from what Summit is doing now, and her own focus has not increased from keeping her phone away.
“ I never knew what it was like to have my phone out, since [in] middle school they were really really strict about it,” Gordon said.
Many teachers believe that the new policy won’t end anytime soon, and will still be in place for the foreseeable future. Rinehart suspects that there may be minor adjustments to these new guidelines as it is still in the beginning stages.
“I don’t think it’s going anywhere. I think there might be tweaks for when it is appropriate [to have phones out]. I don’t see it going back,” Rinehart said.
