What's with the phone policy?

By: Kellum Dixon

Date: Spring 2025

At Cal Young Middle School, we used to be able to have our phones on us at all times, and use them at lunch, but recently that’s changed. Now we can’t have our phones at all, and they have to stay in our lockers. In this article I will be looking at our community's opinions on the current phone policy. 

In my opinion, I think we should have our phones on us at all times and be able to use them at lunch.  If there was an emergency such as a school shooting, wouldn't you want to tell your parents you love them? And let them know what was happening? Also, what if a family member was in the hospital and you couldn’t have your phone to be notified about it. That is why I believe we should be able to carry our phones. Additionally, I think using them at lunch was a great idea, because you can play games or watch things with friends and it is easier to exchange numbers with classmates. This is why I believe we should be able to have our phones.

To get more information on what people around the school thought about this policy I interviewed my classmate Liam Quebodeaux.

Kellum: “What do you think of the phone policy in our school? 

Liam: “I think it is bad and dumb.”

Kellum: “Why do you think that?”

Liam: “Because what if we need it in case of an emergency.”

Kellum: “ I agree but why do you think the teachers may have put this phone policy up?”

Liam:  “Because students might have been using their phones in classes.”

Kellum: “So you think if students don't use our phones in classes it’ll be fine and we can have our phones on us in case of an emergency?”

Liam:  “Yes”

Kellum:  “Do you have any other reasons for why you would like the phone policy to stop?”

Liam:  “Another reason I think it should stop is cause sometimes like at the start of the year I would forget my phone was in my pocket and if you forget it's in your pocket and a teacher sees it like sticking out of your pocket or something they'll just take it and not even give you a chance to put it back so I think this policy is dumb.”

As I interviewed Liam it was very clear that he doesn't like the phone policy, because like me, he is worried about an emergency. Another reason was if you forget to put your phone in your locker and it's in your pocket, it can get taken away.  I agree with Liam, because if it is seen in my pocket and is taken away I don't see how that's fair, especially if I simply forgot to put it in my locker. But he also agrees that students may have been misusing their phones in class, which is a problem.  

Next, I interviewed Ms. Duato to get a teacher’s perspective on the policy. 

Kellum: “What do you think about the phone policy?”

Mrs. Duato: “To be honest I was an early adopter, meaning that I've been asking for several years for us to change our cell phone policy. I have seen a lot of impacts with students and their ability to learn. For example, students would often be checking their phones for messages or playing games on their phones while they are supposed to be learning in class.”

Kellum: “Do you have any more reasons?”

 Mrs. Duato: “I'd have to say that the biggest examples was when I had a student who actually got a text message from a parent in the middle of class, and for confidential reasons I can't say what the context was but that text message was something that should have been discussed after school because it impacted that student to where they didn't attend class the rest of the day. They spent their day in the counselor's office.” I want to say it was so disruptive and it was also really hard as a teacher to constantly be taking phones away from kids. I hated that battle of asking for the phone, because they were distracted on the phone and having to go take it downstairs. We were one of the last middle schools to change our policy in 4J. Last year, most of our middle schools had phones off and away in their lockers. Cal Young was the only one that was still off and away during class. I was huge advocate for change in our cell phone policy to match the rest of the middle schools.” 

 Kellum: “So basically, it's not just that they were on their phones during class. It was if a bad text message was read during class, you don't want to see the kids fall apart like that?”

Mrs. Duato: “Yeah, during school days I also saw a lot especially after the pandemic that kids were spending a lot of time during lunch or during break on their phones instead of interacting with their friends. Social relationships between students was not as strong. I also saw that kids filming a variety of different activities on their phones. There were Tik Tok videos taken in the bathroom when they're supposed to be in class learning,or in the hallways filming other students without permission.”

 Kellum: “So kids would skip class to film Tik Toks without permission?” 

Mrs. Duato: “Absolutely, I'm sure there's still a little bit of that going on, but it is definitely not as much and this year I have only taken a phone away once from a student. Students are also more active during lunch whereas most of the time they may have been on their phone playing games. They’re interacting with other kids and building stronger relationships with their peers without having phones out during the day.”

 Kellum: “So you're saying it's been working better without phones right?” 

 Mrs. Duato: “I think it's been a lot better for teachers. In the classroom, there's a lot more learning going on, and I also think there's a lot stronger social relationships between students that's happening.”

 Kellum: “Is there any way you think we could change the phone policy to allow us to have phones in our pockets or would you like to keep it the way it is this year?”

Mrs. Duato: “The year before that it was off and away, people's pockets buzzed a lot and it's just really hard for students to manage their phones at this point in their life.”

This interview changed my whole perspective on this policy for multiple reasons. For one, ditching class to film Tik Tok videos is not okay, we are at school to learn, not skip class. Then, there were the text messages and texting your kid things that can hurt them at school is not the time.  Also the fact that kids would pull their phones out in class is disrespectful and that should not be happening.  Now that I have all this information I have come to the conclusion that the phone policy should stay. But I leave it up to you.  What do you think about the policy? Do you think it should change or stay?  Thank you for reading this article.