As our schools attempted to adapt to Covid, administration saw this period as a great chance to integrate google classroom and physical learning. To do this, our cell phone use policy was loosened so that students could submit warm-ups, assignments, or even tests during tests. 

“At the beginning of the year we didn’t know how long we’d be in school,” Assistant Rebeca Fitch said. “If students were here, we wanted to be sure they could use Google Classroom in case we had to return online.”

Unfortunately, this leniency came with some side effects too big to justify, and our original policy had to be re-established. 

“Kids started using phones for non-educational purposes and taking up too much time in class,” Mrs. Fitch said. “On top of that, Kids without phones began to be dubbed as the have-nots, which is something we never want happening.”

When this announcement was made, kids began to talk among themselves and the new rules became muddied and unclear.

“To be clear, we don’t have new rules. These are what is written in our school handbook,” Mrs. Fitch said. “No phones during the passing period, in class without teacher permission, and phones can be used during lunch.”

In class, phones can be taken up by teachers at the start of class, or allowed to be kept by students, but this is up to the teachers discretion.