Teachers create policies for cell phones

Throughout the course of a few years, technology has improved in many different ways. Due to the improvements, there has been an increase in the use of social media and technology within the school.
“Cell phones have been crucial to our learning environment. Before we were one-to-one, we were dependent on cell phones for students to access websites and to access information. Once we went one-to-one, we want the Chromebooks. One of the biggest shifts has been trying to alleviate [the] distraction, and you’ll see that in classes each teacher has their own policy for cell phones. So it’s not a blanket school rule. My school rule is, make sure the cell phones are used appropriately,” said principal Dr. James Roscoe.
Due to an increase of cell phone usage, teachers have realized what classes need to have conversations about cell phones. English teacher Tom New believes conversations about cell phones are a good thing, and the responsibility has noticeably become better within recent years.
“I think [cell phone use] has become something you have to actively think about discussing with your students on a daily basis. You have to plan in that you will have that reminder at the beginning of the class period to put them away and the importance of it, especially with freshmen over older students,” New said.
“I think students are much more responsible with their phones this year than they’ve ever been. They seem to be finally grasping the idea that it’s interfering with their education,” Tierney said.
Though Roscoe does not work in the classroom setting, he realizes there are problems within the classrooms due to cell phones being a distraction to the students.
“I want the learning environment [to] not only be engaging, but focused. Cell phones are a great distraction. There’s a time for the cell phones. There’s a time to get on your social media. The bottom line is, we can’t have interruptions to the learning environment. When you think about it, teachers trying to deal with 28 kids, 28 cell phones, 28 different pieces, that’s a lot,” Roscoe said.
Each teacher has their own opinions on what students should do with their phones, and many teachers agree that phones aren’t necessary.