A new school year always ushers in new experiences. Different classes, teachers, and new kids to meet. This year brought many changes, but there’s one that’s on everyone's mind… NO PHONES!! This year, in an attempt to eliminate distractions from classrooms, New York Governor Kathy Hochul passed new legislation to restrict phone use in school. This policy requires bell-to-bell restrictions on phone use in K-12 schools. Under this new legislation, school districts across New York have developed their own policies to limit phones in school. Here at Kenmore West, administration has enacted the policy that “student use of personal internet-enabled devices is prohibited for the entirety of the school day (bell to bell) anywhere on school property in or out of the building.” While many are worried about phones, this policy also includes other devices such as tablets, smartwatches, laptops, and MP3 players, as well as Bluetooth-enabled accessories such as AirPods or other headphones. This restriction spans the entirety of the school day, including homeroom, lunch, recess, study hall, and passing time. 

Many teachers seem to agree on the overall success of these new restrictions saying that their students’ attention and communication have improved. Without phones and technology, teachers have reported seeing students far more engaged and focused in class. Many teachers have noticed students working far more efficiently.   They stated that lessons that used to take two or three days now only take one. In addition, they’ve also noticed that many more students are finishing their work on time. Lessons also go more quickly because teachers no longer have to stop to reprimand students for using their phones. Now there's no more arguing or conflict around phones in the classroom, and this allows students more time to complete their work. 

Many teachers have reported noticing a growth in communication too. Without having their phones, students have had to find other ways to get answers. Because of this, students are asking more questions and communicating more with their teachers. This increased communication has helped to build better relationships between teachers and students. Teachers have also reported relations between students improving. When students have free time, they now spend it socializing with friends instead of online. Many teachers have reported seeing students playing games with others during their free time rather than spending the time online. 

While many teachers are finding great success with the new restrictions, some are also finding new problems. Mr. Mendola, a business teacher at Kenmore West, has reported new problems regarding phone restrictions on field trips. Mendola reported that he was surprised and “not happy” to find out that students weren’t allowed to use their phones on field trips. According to Mendola, while on these trips, students would often use their phones in order to stay in touch with each other, complete college campus sign-in forms, take photos, and more. Mendola believes that field trips could actually be negatively affected by the new restrictions, saying that he would prefer if the rules were reconsidered to at least allow phones in case of an emergency. Mendola finished by saying, “Field trips are very different from classrooms.” This is an important sentiment as it shows that school is more than just the classroom, and that these new restrictions will take time before being perfected.

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