During election season, many Student Council candidates campaigned on changing the cellphone policy to allow use during free periods. However, after results of recent surveys from students, parents and faculty about the policy, Dean of Students Ana Campos envisions there will most likely not be any large changes to the policy, only minor tweaks.
Ms. Campos shared the survey results with the Midway. About 38% of the student body responded.
Although it is too early to identify specific changes, Ms. Campos said she has discussed smaller shifts with Principal Martin Woods, such as the requirement that a parent must collect the phone after a student’s third violation. She said this has been difficult for some parents as they can’t always arrive within the 30-minute period between the end of school and when the office closes.
Responding to a survey question about the cellphone policy’s impact on social interaction, the majority of students rated it a three out of five, with a more positive trend overall. Ms. Campos said she believed this was because of younger high school students who have not experienced using cellphones during the day like older students have.
“There are people who are staunchly in the, ‘This has made no difference in my life, this didn’t change anything’ camp. But there are people who felt there was an improvement in student connection,” Ms. Campos said.
She added that part of the disconnect for students not feeling change is because ninth graders made up the largest portion of responses out of all four grades. Of the responses, 40% came from ninth graders, Ms. Campos said. In contrast, only 0.9% came from seniors with 27% from sophomores and 25% from juniors.
She explained that many students who reported that they don’t agree with the policy feel it should be teacher-controlled. In a faculty survey that was also conducted, all of the 24 respondents said the policy positively impacted academic focus.
“What we’re seeing is that by having the schoolwide policy, it actually improved the focus, according to a lot of the teachers,” Ms. Campos said. “And what I’ve heard anecdotally from the teachers — and I think what one person put in here — is that by having the schoolwide policy it really makes them feel more empowered to enforce it.”
