There is a new phone policy put into place this school year that has students complaining. This new policy has students place their phones into a pocket in the front of the room at the beginning of class, and students are not allowed to go get their devices until class is over unless there is a need for them in class. The teacher of the classroom can decide if the students can use their phones during class.
The principal of West Morris Central, Mr. Rymer said “the goal of the new phone policy is to keep students focused on what’s going on in the classroom and try to remove some of that distraction.” Mr. Rymer stated “Traffic in the hallways has significantly gone down since implementing the new policy. What teachers have also found was kids are not leaving the class as much anymore and only when they need it.”
This decision was also district wide. “Both Mendham and Central have the exact same phone policy this year,” said Mr. Rymer. During Covid a lot of the ground rules of teaching changed. Bringing back some structure into the school was one of the administrator’s goals this year. Mr. Ryan, principal of West Morris Mendham and Mr. Rymer communicate with each other as well as other principals within the county and talk about different things they observed within their school building. This phone policy was chosen by Central’s administration, but new phone policies have been applied to both schools in the district.
Mr. Goodwin, a history teacher at West Morris Central has been using a phone policy of his own for the past two years. When the students walked into his class, they would place their phones on a front table before going to their seats. Mr. Goodwin feels “both in and out of school phones are a distraction.” He goes on to say that in class phones aren’t needed because students are provided a computer that has the same function. Before implementing his own phone policy in the classroom, he had kids place their phones into their backpacks. Mr. Goodwin noticed students would still try to look at their phones during class and they are still distracted. He observed that when he started the new phone policy the students were paying attention more. Mr. Goodwin approves the school now enforcing the new phones policy, He agrees that it was the right decision to help reduce the distractions in the classroom.
Students share a different point of view of the new phone policy. There have been many questions as to why they need this new policy if it is only a couple of kids staying in the bathroom and walking the halls during class. Many students try to keep their phones on them or use whiteboard erasers to replace their phones in the pocket. Jules Davidman, a junior at West Morris Central said “I’m worried I’m not going to have my phone during a school emergency”. She expressed that not having her phone in a situation where she would need to contact her parents during a time of need is a big concern. The rest of the school year will be the real test to see if the new phone policy will continue to help the students or will students have their phones on their person in class.
