Students React to Stricter Phone Policy Planned for Next School Year 

By: Jenna Jenkerson and Lincoln Puls

February 5, 2025

   Prince William County School Board announced on Dec. 5 that starting August, all high school students must have their phones turned off and stored away for the entirety of the school day, including lunch and between classes. This change in policy replaces that from this year, which requires students to put their phones away during all instructional time.

   Voting the day before, the School Board considered three different options on how to limit phone usage at school. Option one consisted of the same policy used currently, while the second and third policies are what was adopted, but option two would have begun in January 2025.

   The change proves controversial to students as many enjoy using their phones during lunch. Students have also questioned why the phone policy used in classrooms is now used in lunchrooms, a place where students take a break from their classes.

   Junior Carl Gentry believes that the new rule is “a form of systematic control,” he said.

   “I think it's a little bit unnecessary,” Gentry added. “With the new implementation, I don't think it would change the academic success more than it already has.”

   While the county has said it wants to “boost face-to-face interactions”, Gentry said, “I’ve seen plenty of people that prefer to be alone with or without their phone. So even if they didn't have the phone, they still wouldn't be wanting to talk to you.”

   Junior Sydney Dondlinger believes that students, even with this new rule, will find ways to be distracted.

   “If students don't want to participate, they're not going to,” said Dondlinger. “If they don't want to focus, they're not going to focus.”

   Although there is little known about how the administration will handle this new change, teachers now have to sign up for their preference for phone policy enforcement.

   “I think that that's going to be inefficient because that takes staff from doing their proper like their own jobs and giving them a new thing,” says Dondlinger. “It's just an inefficient way to watch for phones.”

   “I think for the first month, everybody's going to be freaking out about it but then as the year goes by they’re just going to slowly mellow down,” said Sophomore Noah Lytle.