New Policy Receives Student Feedback

By Annie Tian

June 20, 2025

The Jericho Board of Education began a new phone policy on April 7, which bans students from using their phones during class time, including in bathrooms and hallways.

As required, the new policy complies with the Student Acceptable Use Policy, the District’s Code of Conduct, and the Dignity for All Students Act. First, it separates and differentiates devices into two categories: mobile and computer devices. It prohibits the use and sight of cellular devices during class periods. A few exceptions to this rule are in the high school cafeteria, the high school library, the middle school cafeteria, and the hallways. However, this rule is negated if a student is given permission by their teacher to use it for educational purposes. To be able to grant this, teachers must contact the Curriculum Associate and Building Administrator. 

This policy was accompanied by a few others, such as a ban on headphones and non-Jericho-issued devices, though the latter only applies to elementary and middle school students. All rules would be nullified in the case of a medical emergency.

Although devices allow for efficient and convenient access to information, they can also serve as a distraction. A study was designed and conducted by the National Library of Medicine to measure the relationship between memory retention and the use of cellphones, and the results proved the negative impact of keeping cellular devices in proximity while studying. As stated in their abstract, “those without smartphones had higher recall accuracy compared to those with smartphones. Results showed a significant negative relationship between phone conscious thought, ‘how often did you think about your phone,’ and memory recall, but not for SAS (smartphone addiction scale) and memory recall” (nih.gov).

This policy has received both positive and negative feedback. For the positives, it can create a better learning environment by eliminating the distraction that is the urge to go on your phone. It also removes the factor that causes the consumption of fast-paced, short-form content that can become addictive. Many people speculate that this sort of digital content is what causes a lack of attention span.

On the other hand, some students have also expressed dissatisfaction. Graze Zhang, a student at Jericho, says, “It made it [more difficult] during free periods. For example, I’d often go on my phone, but now I’m not even allowed to do that. So I had to sit there in silence.” While she agrees there are benefits, she also says that sometimes “the teachers allow [students] to go on Chromebooks, but many things on Chromebooks are blocked, so it doesn’t really help at all.” 

Teachers have also experienced the difference. Many teachers have started to enforce the policy more seriously in their classes. As mentioned previously, teachers must now also fill out paperwork before they allow their classes to use their phones. 

The phone policy has evidently evoked mixed emotions. As one student says, “Although the phone policy has many benefits, for the most part, it is unpopular with many students, especially since the policy extends to other commonly used devices such as headphones; it is hard to understand.” However, the phone policy was made with the students’ best interests in mind and thus will likely stay in effect.